


Dating Albus Potter

by Rapunzhel



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling, Simon Snow & Related Fandoms
Genre: (I think) (I've never done slow burn before), AU, Actor AU, Albus has it rough ngl, Albus is playing Simon Snow in a movie, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Astoria Greengrass Lives, Celebrity AU, F/F, F/M, Fake Dating, M/M, Malfoy Family Feels, Meta Fic, Multi, POV Alternating, POV Astoria Greengrass, POV Ginny Weasley, Painter! Albus, Pining, Potter Family Feels, Slow Burn, a lot of pining, and Scorpius is playing Baz, fake dating au, its very meta and fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2020-01-09
Packaged: 2020-12-16 01:37:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 39,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21028139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rapunzhel/pseuds/Rapunzhel
Summary: Scorpius Malfoy and Albus Potter are actors, and they've been playing the same roles for almost a decade now. The adaption of the last book in the successful Simon Snow series by Gemma T. Leslie is scheduled for release at Christmas, but excitement for the movies has dwindled incredibly low. So Albus Potter comes up with a scheme to create some much needed hype around the movie. Everyone wants his character, Simon Snow, and Scorpius' Baz Pitch to get together in the film, so whilst it isn't meant to be in fiction, maybe it can happen in real life...





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy this odd and very specific and meta fake-dating au!
> 
> I do not own any of these characters, give all my thanks to JK Rowling and Rainbow Rowell.

Scorpius Malfoy woke up feeling like complete and utter shit. His head was pounding and his stomach felt like it was turning itself inside and out agonisingly slowly. He turned onto his side, his hand groping for his phone and water bottle. He guzzled down half a litre of water as he tried to turn on his phone. It was dead. He reached down and plugged it in to the charger.

He had been out with the cast last night, celebratory drinks for finally finishing reshoots on _Eighth Dance. _He had a vague memory of fighting with Albus before he came home with him. _Wait_, he thought, _I came home with him? That doesn't sound right_. 

He saw the bright white light of his phone flash on next to him. He opened it up and on reflex went to Twitter.

#SnowBaz was trending. Along with #Scorbus. And then his name and Albus Potter’s.

One picture was all over the internet. 

_Oh yeah_, he thought, _that’s what happened last night._


	2. Negotiations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the middle of summer, and just when Scorpius Malfoy thought he was done with the World of Mages, a complication arises. With the movie doomed to fail, Albus Potter comes up with an idea that might get the world interested in them again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own any of these characters, I owe both JK Rowling and Rainbow Rowell my life.

Scorpius sucked the last dregs of his iced coffee through the disintegrating straw, frowning when all he could taste was paper. He tilted his head back into the sun. It was the middle of August, and even though it was a long way off now, he dreaded the return of winter.

He was sat outside an expensive cafe in central London, tucked away into a little private sun trap. To his left Albus Potter was texting and picking at the wooden table. Their agent, Delphi Diggory, typed away on her laptop opposite them. The three of them had spent the entire morning negotiating timetables for reshoots on _Simon Snow and the Eighth Dance_. There had been some minor script changes, and some of the CG effects just weren’t working in the edit, so some shots needed new angles. The mere thought of even stepping foot on that set again left Scorpius feeling exhausted. _Eighth Dance_ was the final movie in the series that they had been making together since they were 10 years old. Now at 22, Scorpius had spent over a decade pretending to be Tyrannus Basilton ‘Baz’ Pitch. He just wanted to do something, _anything_, else.

Sadly, the world seemed to have moved on too.

“You guys, I’m gonna be honest with you now,” Delphi said, taking off her sunglasses. People often thought Scorpius and Delphi were related, because of the white hair and pointed faces, but it was pure coincidence that they looked strikingly similar. And then of course rumours had swirled that the two of them were dating, which was an odd leap to make. But she was simply just their agent. Out of the two of them she was closer to Albus anyway, but the media had never faked some wild connection between her and his co-star. She shook her hair out of its bun, the blue tips dancing across her bare shoulders. She was switching from serious agent Delphi, to trying-to-be-younger-than-she-was, friendly, Delphi; closing her laptop and putting her head on her chin.

Scorpius glanced at his watch. He had two hours until his first audition in years. Unfamiliar nerves were beginning to creep in.

“The studio really needs you to put some effort into the promo in the next few months. It’s got to be all that you talk and tweet about. So,” she looked directly at Scorpius, “not a whisper about this audition, Malfoy.” He nodded, chewing at his straw. “You’re competing for the number one Christmas movie this year, and with last years ratings and numbers, you won’t do it unless someone pulls some sort of stunt.” She lit a cigarette. Scorpius impulsively turned his head away.

“Then the writers should have thought about what the audience wanted,” Albus said in a huff, he bounced his leg on the ground and ran his hands through his hair, always full of awkward energy. His regular brown roots were beginning to poke into his golden curls. Scorpius was instantly relieved that they never made him dye his own hair jet black. Albus rather suited both styles though. In fact, he liked being Simon Snow much more than Scorpius liked being Baz Pitch. They had both read the books when they were kids, and obviously kept up with them when they were starring in the movies, but Albus had always found more magic in them than Scorpius had. And since coming out around movie five, his devotion to the Chosen One had only increased. He had been fully supportive and even outright campaigned for the movies to “enhance” the source material.To change Simon and Baz from enemies to boyfriends. Or at the very least have one of them come out. But neither the studio, nor Gemma T. Leslie, had budged.

“Well, the script has been written, and these reshoots are for minor changes.” Delphi to a drag from her cigarette, kindly blowing the smoke away from them.“It’s up to the cast,” she nodded at both of them,“and the marketing team now to really sell it.” Albus just shook his head, unwilling to co-operate. Scorpius couldn’t really blame him.

“What sort of ‘stunts’”, he put in air quotes, “did you have in mind?” Scorpius asked dryly. Delphi shoved her laptop in her bag and put out her cigarette. Clearly she was done for the day. Or at least with them.

“I don’t know, Malfoy. Support a charity. Book out a cinema for under privileged kids. Marry another cast member. Anything.” She waved goodbye, “right, I gotta go. I’ll see you guys in a week.” Over her shoulder she called, “Figure something out. The World of Mages depends on you!” Scorpius rolled his eyes. 

Albus put his head in his hands. Scorpius’ heart broke slightly. Being (fictional) roommates with a person for 10 years really brought you close together. He was reminded of how, along with coming out around movie five, he had also threatened to quit the thing all together. He didn’t trust the studio to tell the story properly. It was actually Delphi who had got him to stick around. Telling him that no one could ever tell Simon’s story better than him. Scorpius had wholeheartedly agreed. The best part of the movies had always been Albus’ performance. Brave, slightly boisterous, and blisteringly _kind_. So he stayed, and somehow his performance got even better. Amongst other things, Scorpius would catch him angling his body towards his own. Or, when Simon and Baz fought, he would step just an inch closer than he needed to. He would glance down to his lips when they were doing close-ups. He was giving the world what they wanted,but even so the world was moving on. It didn’t care about Simon as much as Albus did.

Scorpius wanted to lighten the mood. Chuckling, he suggested, “I could always get back together with Rose? She’d probably go along with it, knowing it was for a good cause.” Rose Granger-Weasley was another cast member of the Simon Snow series and also Albus’ cousin. She played Penelope Bunce, Simon’s know-it-all best friend. Scorpius had a crush on her and her dyed purple curls from the first day they met, and eventually Rose had agreed to go out with him.

It didn’t last very long.

Albus raised his head.

“Unless…” He looked at Scorpius, clearly an idea forming itself in his mind. Scorpius didn’t like it when Albus got ideas that revolved around work. They were usually pranks, or demonstrations, or derailing interviews. They were nearly always born out of good intentions, but it meant a large proportion of the film industry would never work with him again. Or at all. 

But Scorpius couldn’t not indulge him. “What?”

He wagged his finger in-between them. “We get together.”

“Excuse me?” he scoffed.

“It’s perfect! SnowBaz in real life! People would love it,” under his breath he added, “and Leslie would hate it.” Albus’ green eyes were bright. He had suddenly become extremely excited. Scorpius rolled his grey eyes back at him. He actually didn’t hate the idea, though it would never work.

“But if people found out we pretended to date just to sell a movie? The world would hate us.”

“And then the world would find something else to hate and move on. Think about it, Scorpius. You know it would work.” It was exactly what their lost audience would want. “And it would make the interviews less awkward.” Scorpius reluctantly nodded. He had grown up with people ‘shipping’ the two of them. They had suffered through so many interviews where the interviewer had hinted at it but never fully brought it up. It was weird. Actually dating Albus would only intensify everything. The mute function on twitter could only do so much.

“It just seems like taking it a little far, don’t you think?”

Albus tapped on the table. “You’re always saying that you want to try something new. Be anyone other than a pretentious vampire.”

“I don’t think he’s pretentious,” interrupted Scorpius. Albus shot him a look.

“This would be like, a new acting challenge. We’d have to come up with a story, make sure we were on the same page. Heck, we could even write ourselves scripts for interviews and red carpets! Like an on going play!” Albus’ excitement was contagious. Against his will Scorpius found himself smiling. 

“I mean,” Scorpius gave in, “it would be fun to see if we could pull it off.” 

“It would! And we’d only have to keep up the act for what, four months? We’ve been doing this for years. Four months is nothing.” Scorpius swirled the almost-melted ice in his drink as he considered what dating Albus Potter would be like. He wasn’t out to the world like Albus was, but he was out to the people it mattered to, so he had that to consider. And then there was Albus himself. They were good friends, it’s impossible not to be when you grow up with someone. Albus was a tad impulsive and sometimes let his emotions cloud his judgement, and they had got into their fair share of fights over the years. But overall Scorpius was shocked to find himself with the belief that they could pull something like this off. Sure, maybe they’d have to kiss a few dozen times, and hold hands every time they were out in public, but Simon and Baz had gotten into so many heated arguments over the years. Almost all of them ended up in a physical brawl, faces inches from each other, so how different would this be? According to most of the fanbase they had been pretending to be two people in love for years now, they could do it for four more months.

“Well,” Scorpius gave in.“Let’s give the people what they want then.” Albus beamed back at him. “But we should probably do one of the charitable things as well.”

* * *

When he was 13 years old, Albus dreamt of this very moment. Sitting outside a cafe in London, the sun streaming down, him and Scorpius drinking iced coffees and chatting. Albus asking him out and Scorpius saying yes.

He just didn’t picture it all being fake.

Also, he was over Scorpius now. It takes a while to get over a first crush, but it is possible. And as Albus walked back to his apartment he marvelled at just how little he actually felt for his cast mate.

After finally convincing him to agree to his, admittedly slightly outrageous idea, Scorpius had an audition to get to that afternoon. They organised to meet at Albus’ later to go over some plans for how the whole ‘dating’ thing was going to work.

Albus thought back to when they first met. It was a really cold September. It felt weirdly like starting a new school. All of the Watford Four had a final audition together, just to make sure that they all got on and worked well together on screen. Albus already knew Penelope, of course. His own cousin, Rose Granger-Weasley, had been cast in the role. Victoire DeLacour, a french girl, had been cast as Agatha Wellbelove,Simon’s eventual girlfriend. She had been kind, but at first Albus had been confused because Agatha was extremely British, and Victoire’s French accent was strong. But when she was given the script and started reading through her first lines, Albus did a double take. Her accent had been impeccable. So much so that Albus had begun to wonder if it was the French accent that was put on.

And of course, Scorpius Malfoy was there to play Baz Pitch. Albus had heard of him from his father. They both came from families of actors and celebrities. Albus’ mum, Ginny, had been a football player. She’d played for England when she was younger, but was now a constant presence on the sports channels. Astoria, Scorpius’ mother, had been a ballerina. Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy had been child stars themselves, bouncing around the most famous British TV networks before eventually developing a double act/rivalry gig that meant they were always hosting some sort of reality show. Despite their constant on screen presence together though, the families weren’t very close, so Albus had never met the only Malfoy child.

Scorpius had walked in all rosey cheeked from the cold. His bright white hair shot up with static from being kept under his hat and he wore glasses that kept falling off his nose. He was tall, too. Much taller than Albus had been at that age. They had evened out over the next few years and then Scorpius had shot up again. Albus never caught up.

And he was so quiet. He had barely said a word to Albus before the camera’s started rolling, except to offer him some sweets from a squashed paper bag in his pocket. But as Baz, he was just brilliant. Sarcastic, droll, dramatic. And so, so funny. His comedic timing was unprecedented.

And he looked really cute in the Baz wig.

Albus couldn’t have not fallen for him if he tried. He hadn’t realised what he was actually feeling until they were making the third movie.

It had been in a rehearsal from one of the very first scenes. Simon comes back to Watford feeling happy. He has Penny, and he is beginning to have Agatha, and most importantly Watford feels like a home to him. For the first time in his life he feels confident. And Baz was just tormenting him with snide comment after snide comment.

So he punches him. And Baz punches back. And Penny yells at them to “just use magic for Crowley’s sake!” but both of them refuse too. Simon and Baz end up rolling around on Watford’s football pitch, covered in grass and mud.

Albus could remember it clear as day. His face had been inches away from Scorpius’ sneer. Baz’s usually neatly kept hair had gone skew-iff. Albus had wanted nothing more than to reach up and kiss him. He didn’t know what he might have done if the director hadn’t called cut and Scorpius’ face hadn’t fallen flat.

He chuckled at the memory. Because he wasn’t thirteen anymore. He was over Scorpius, and there was no way this wasn’t going to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh Albus, little do you know...
> 
> Thank you so much for reading this first chapter! This is very self-indulgent fic and I'm really enjoying writing it. I'm not sure how long this is going to be yet, and I'll probably only be updating this every other Monday. But maybe expect quicker updates once NaNo gets underway. 
> 
> This fic is wholeheartedly dedicated to the actors currently playing Albus and Scorpius on stage across the world, but in particular to Jonathan Case who changed the game a few days ago. This is my love letter to the guys doing all they can to give us two of the best characters in the entire HPU every night.


	3. Requirement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reshoots begin on Simon Snow and the Eighth Dance. Scorpius and Albus start their plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ended up being about double the length I expected. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> As always, I don't own any of these characters. I owe everything I am Rainbow Rowell and JK Rowling.

Despite the fact that Scorpius wanted to be doing anything else, there was something undeniably comforting about being backstage on the Simon Snow set. There weren’t any strangers; no need for awkward introductions.As it was only reshoots it was a relatively small crew for the next two weeks. It felt almost like a family. He would have been emotional, but they had done all the speeches and goodbyes and tears a month ago.

It was more like he had travelled back in time; trespassing on old memories.He was relatively at peace with it all and determined to enjoy it.The hair and make up trailer was parked in its usual spot just outside the set. It wasn’t as chaotic as it used to be, with hundreds of Watford uniforms and wigs and props. Scorpius was grateful for the calm. It was only him and Albus on set today so it was only their costumes that were prepped. A pot of fake blood stood next to his wig on the dressing table, his tattered Watford uniform hanging above the mirror. He sat down in front of it.

The first time he had seen the wig when he was eleven years old, he was terrified of it. He just knew that he’d look evil. Apparently the other kids thought he did too. The first scene they had shot was a classroom one before Simon had arrived in Watford. None of his classmates had spoken to him, they just whispered and giggled. Some seemed genuinely frightened by his paleness. He remembered Polly Chapman, who played Penelope's roommate, Trixie, had declared, "I heard they hired a _real Vampire!_" and her two friends had shrieked. The next day, he sat in his trailer and cried. He desperately wanted to be playing anyone other than the bad guy. But then Albus had come barreling into their shared trailer. "Whoa!” he exclaimed upon seeing him, “you look so cool!” Scorpius had blushed, not expecting the compliment. “I wished they gave me a wig.”In the first two movies, all they had done to Albus’ hair was ruffle it up slightly. Simon’s hair only became completely book accurate in the third film, when they dyed it a golden brown for the first time. He remembered how Albus had pulled him into the props trailer. “You’ve gotta see this.” He said, presenting Scorpius with Simon Snow’s famous sword. Scorpius had gotten so lost in Albus’ contagious excitement that he had forgotten all about his new hair. He did a double glance the next time he saw himself in a mirror, but then he saw Albus grinning at him again, and decided that no one could possibly look at someone they way Albus was looking at him if they thought they looked evil.

The first Baz wig had been relatively short and simple compared to the one that sat in front of him now. But the jet black colour had never changed. Baz’s hair had grown so much that in some of the fight scenes for _Eighth Dance _he even wore it in a ponytail. It was so far from what he normally looked like that he didn’t really like wearing it for long periods of time. If he was ever not needed behind the camera for over an hour he would sneak back to his trailer and take it off. 

Taking a deep breath, Scorpius removed the wig from its stand and put it on once again. Almost instantly his features looked sharper. It was loose for the scenes he was shooting today and came down to the very top of his shoulders. Theshadow under his jawline deepened and he could feel his grey eyes grow darker, sinking into his face. Baz was a soulless vampire after all. The dead look was entirely appropriate.

He had a few more minutes of being alone with his frightening reflection before Teddy threw open the door, music playing loud enough from his headphones for Scorpius to hear. Teddy Lupin was the head of Hair and Make Up, and also Victoire’s boyfriend. His hair was a different shade than it was a month ago, but that wasn’t shocking. The last time he had seen him, it had been an alarming green. Now it was a surprisingly subtle deep blue.

“He’s back!” Teddy said, removing his headphones and rushing to embrace Scorpius. The music instantly blasted from his phone. He had a twinkle in his eye and his hug was crushing. Scorpius’ mood lifted instantly. The last time they had been in this trailer together, Scorpius had gone on about how relieved he was to never have to put it on again and Teddy lamented saying goodbye to the wig.

“I think I’m doomed to wear this thing forever.” Scorpius complained.

“That’s not so bad,” Teddy said, grabbing some foundation and powder from a cupboard, “the vampire look does suit you.” He winked. Scorpius had vaguely known Teddy Lupin for years and had always liked him. He had always been kind to Scorpius, no matter what.They were distantly related, second cousins or something. Everyone who made the Simon Snow movies seemed to be related somehow. Victoire’s mother had married into Rose and Albus’ family.

Teddy spun Scorpius on his chair and applied the make-up, somehow making him even paler than before. By the eighth movie everyone knew Baz was a vampire so he didn’t need to hide it anymore. Scorpius said a quick prayer to whoever decided that the fangs would be all CGI.

He quickly got changed into his tattered Watford shirt and trousers as Teddy prepared the fake blood. As he painted it onto his hands and up onto his wrists, Scorpius thought about the scene that would have only happened minutes before for Baz, but that they shot almost six months ago now. Baz had saved Simon, clamping his hand down on a gunshot-like wound left by the Insidious Humdrum, the real villain of the story. He had been almost thrashing with desire to drink Simon's blood, but the Roommates Anathema, the incantation that him and Simon had made when they first met that stopped them from causing the other harm, held him back. It had been quite an intense scene. Teddy snapped him out of it, “this is definitely the last time you’ll be covered in blood, I can tell you that for sure.” Scorpius raised his eyebrows.

“Well, actually…” Scorpius teased. Teddy looked up at him, confused.

“What have you done Malfoy, should I be concerned? Do you need me to bury a body? Because I do not have the upper body strength.” Teasing Teddy with the information suddenly made Scorpius realise how desperate he was to tell someone. So far, only Delphi and his parents knew. He almost exploded with his answer. “I auditioned for Macbeth at the _Globe_!” He squealed. In his sing-song voice, he said, "_And I think I got it!_" 

“You did what?!” Teddy was gobsmacked. “Malfoy I cannot believe you!” He feigned a pained expression, “leaving the glamour of the silver screen for the stage!” He put the fake blood down before he spilt it all over himself. “When will you know for sure?”

“Not for another couple weeks.” He took a deep breath, calming himself down. “And Teddy, you can’t tell anyone, ok? Delphi will murder me if this gets out before _Eighth Dance_ opens.”

Teddy mimed zipping his lips shut. “Your secret is safe with me.” He picked up a hair brush and mussed up his wig slightly. “My little Scorpius…a _proper_ actor.”

“You’re like, three years older than me, Teddy.”

He rolled his eyes. “Ugh. Don’t remind me,” sighing, he put the hairbrush back down. “Right, I think we’re done here.”

“Thanks, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Scorpius went to put his headphones back in his ears, but then remembered that his hands were covered in fake blood, so he hummed as he walked down to the set instead. One thing he did love about Baz was his theme music. It was haunting and painful and deliciously evil. He was instantly in the right frame of mind to play him from the first note. He could play it on both violin and piano. His humming wasn’t an exact replica, but his mind filled in the gaps.

The Simon Snow sets hadn’t been dismantled after shooting the final movie, they were all being kept for some sort of showcase in the new year. Just another reason why the movie had to be a hit. If no-one liked the last movie, nobody would want to visit the Watford School of Mages and buy blazers and wands and swords. That was why the reshoots were able to be done so quickly. Everything was there, just as they left it.

They were shooting a scene in Simon and Baz’s bedroom. Baz had just _Spoonful of Sugared_ Simon better from what would be his penultimate fight with the Insidious Humdrum.

Over the years only the beds had changed really. They replaced them with bigger ones as each of them shot up in height. Scorpius more than Albus. Scorpius sat on Baz’s bed as he waited for Albus and the rest of the crew to be ready, flicking over the pages of his script with his elbows. He was fairly competent now at not dripping blood everywhere. It was a simple scene, and one Scorpius knew Albus would be happy with.

In the original script, Simon offered his condolences to Baz, and offered him his hand. But Baz had turned it down. It wasn’t going over well with test audiences. Apparently Simon and Baz being enemies until the bitter end just wasn’t very Christmassy.

A couple minutes later, Albus came striding onto the set. His hair had been freshly dyed and looked soft and bouncy, even when speckled with mud. He smiled and sat down on Baz’s bed next to him as they waited for the scene to start. They hadn’t seen each other since the evening at Albus’ apartment a week ago.

The plan was formed after a meal of cheap Chinese take-away. It reminded Scorpius of the many room service meals they had shared together over the years of shooting on location or when they stayed over in the US for press. They were usually given separate rooms in hotels, but Scorpius didn’t like being alone all that much. He could still remember the first time he had nervously knocked on Albus’ door across the hall from his own. They were on the press tour for the third movie, and it was their first time out in America. At thirteen, Scorpius had felt so old and mature. But being alone in a hotel room, his parents an entire plane ride away, presented him with the daunting realisation that he really wasn’t grown up. Dressed in his stripy green and grey pyjamas, he padded out of his room and over to Albus’. Albus had answered the door bleary eyed and with messy hair. At thirteen Albus had grown and they were pretty much the same height. He was wearing a Simon and Baz shirt, and his face got really red when Scorpius chuckled at it.

“Don’t laugh,” he had said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I’m not,” Scorpius replied through giggles. “It’s a cute top.” Albus’ face got even redder.

“Did you want something?” he asked.

“Did you wanna order room service?” He suggested. Two hours later they had passed out on the same bed in a food coma. From that night on it became their tradition to get food together on at least the first night in a new hotel. Scorpius when given too much freedom always ordered heaps of chocolates and cakes.

The only press tour they hadn’t done it on was for the fifth movie. When Scorpius was dating Rose. Despite being happy with her, he lay awake on the first night out in California missing Albus.

The remains of the Chinese food they had ordered sat on the kitchen table as the two of them discussed ideas they had in Albus’ living room. Albus had suggested putting on a cheesy rom-com to “inspire” them.

“It’s got to be Clueless,” Scorpius had suggested, looking through the hundreds of DVDs Albus had in various piles in his living room. Scorpius didn’t have any DVDS anymore. He didn’t think he even owned anything capable of playing them. Albus’ apartment was much older than Scorpius’. More homely, with it’s wooden tables and mis-matched chairs. From an interior designer’s perspective, it was horrifying, but, looking at Albus curled up on the sofa with a straw box on his lap, flicking through movies, everything seemed to fit. Scorpius quite liked it.

“Absolutely not. _10 Things I Hate About You _is clearly superior.”

“But…Paul Rudd, Albus. Paul Rudd.” Albus rolled his eyes.

“I raise your Paul Rudd, and give you _Heath. Ledger._”

“Fine,” Scorpius raised his hands in defeat, “you win.” It was weird talking about boys with Albus, even if it was just Paul Rudd and Heath Ledger. They never really talked about things like that. It was too weird to talk about Rose with him, and anyway neither of them had much time for dating. They were too busy pretending to save the world, or in Scorpius’ case, doing anything he could to stop Albus from doing so.

“So.” Albus had started.

“So…”

“Well, we need to figure out when we’re gonna start, you know, dating.”

“It’s definitely got to be for the press tour,” Scorpius said, he opened up his phone calendar, mapping everything out. “And we couldn’t break up until at least a week after the premiere. Can’t drive sales down.” He glossed over the fact that the week the movie was released was Christmas.

“Right. That makes sense.”

“But I don’t think we need to start right now.” Scorpius chuckled. “Rose would probably figure everything out if we tried to pretend right in front of her.” Rose was an expert at spotting if people were lying. Especially Scorpius. For someone who was a reasonably successful actor, apparently he was a god-awful liar.

“Yeah. And it will be easiest to do when we’re out in LA and New York. No meddling families.” Scorpius suddenly remembered how big, and how _close_, Albus’ family was. The thought of being dumped in the middle of all of them honestly slightly terrified him. Growing up a single child, with no extended relations hadn’t been lonely exactly, but he never did well with large crowds. He couldn’t handle being alone but couldn’t handle being surrounded by people either. _What can I say_, he thought to himself, _I’m a complex guy_.“Ok. So, we’ll wait until the shoot is over, and then, we’ll find some sort of opportunity to start, well, _dating_.” A silence hung in the air for a moment.

And then they both burst out laughing.

Scorpius smiled at the memories as Albus looked over the script once more. “They finally took my advice.” He had circled the stage direction.

_Baz takes Simon’s hand, shaking it. It almost mirrors the Roommates Anathema from all those years ago. Although this time there’s a lot more blood. Simon looks up at Baz, a small smile on his face. Baz scowls. But it’s not as harsh as it once was. _

“They certainly did.” Scorpius flinched as the lights were turned on and he heard the clunk of the camera being pulled into position. They both stood up. Scorpius shook out his wig.

Albus was given Simon’s sword. It really was a magnificent prop. It was enhanced with CGI in the films, but even in person it was a sight to behold. He stood away from Scorpius, waiting for them to call action. Scorpius coughed, Baz’s accent wasn’t all that different from his own. Slightly drier and lower, but not as radical a change as Albus made.

He was struck with it then, as the director called action. “Baz. We don’t have to be enemies, you know that.” Albus’ voice completely changed when he was Simon. He had an odd accent, there was no way around it. Weirdly high pitched and slightly nervous sounding. And he’d trip over his words every now and then, rushing to get them out. But as Simon he was certain and firm. Scorpius would shut his eyes and he would be almost unrecognisable. As Baz, he laughed.

“Then put your sword down, Snow.”

“It can’t harm you.” Simon said, but still he sheathed it. The sheath was bright green, because it would be removed completely in the edit. The magic of cinema. He stepped towards him. Extending his hand.

“I could harm you, though. We’re technically not roommates anymore. And…” he showed him his hands, “I’ll get blood everywhere.”

“Baz.” Simon, _Albus_, looked at him. He sighed and extended his own hand. They shook. Simon beamed. Baz scowled.

“And cut!” The director called. Albus broke out into a grin. “We’ll just get that once more, and then again with the close ups.”

They ran the scene through a couple more times and got some entrance and exit shots of Simon coming in and Baz storming out. Scorpius stood to the side and watched Albus shoot the last scene of Simon in his room.

In the original, they had Simon break down into tears, collapsing in a heap at the foot of his bed. But with the happier ending of Simon and Baz sharing a moment of friendship, they wanted one where Simon himself was happy in his last moments at Watford.

So that was what Albus gave them. In a rare moment of freedom, he was told he could do almost whatever he wanted to show this. At first, when the cameras started rolling, Albus didn’t move. He stood in the centre of the room, just looking at it all. And then, slowly, a smile grew on his face and he stepped over to his bed, sitting down on the very edge. He breathed in deeply, taking everything in. His smile grew larger and a tear fell from his eyes. He held onto the bed post for support.

Scorpius didn’t realise he was crying too until the director called cut.

“Have you ever read fan fiction?” Albus asked him. They were sat in their trailer because they had a couple hours to kill. Scorpius was picking out the dried blood from under his nails.

“Have I ever read what?”

“Fan fiction.” He got out his phone and scooted over to him on his chair. “You know, the stories people write about Simon and Baz.”

“I can’t say I have, no.”

“Oh.” Albus looked disappointed.

“Have you?”

“Oh yeah. All the time.” Albus chuckled and opened his phone. “There’s like, thousands of stories.” He showed Scorpius, he was scrolling through hundreds of titles. Some named after songs, some just titled SnowBaz, and hundreds called _7 times Simon argued with Baz and 1 time he didn’t _or some sort of variation on that sentence. “This one is really good.” He tapped on one titled _Carry On, Simon_, by an author named Magicath. “I’ll send you the link.” Scorpius didn’t have the heart to tell him that he probably wasn’t even going to_ think_ the names Simon and Baz again once this was all over, let alone read more about them. So he just nodded along.

The rest of the two weeks of reshoots carried on without any drama. Scorpius shot another vegetarian-vampire scene, and there was a similar reworking of his final scene with Penny and Agatha as there had been with the one with Simon.

The last shoot was a Friday night shoot out on the Watford football pitch, and it was decided relatively impulsively that they would all go out to a club called Room of Requirement in London. Albus organised it, and made sure that he and Scorpius were in the final taxi alone together.

“So,” he said as they began their journey into central London, “should this be the night?” He said with a smirk. It took Scorpius a moment to figure out what he was referencing. Requirement was notoriously difficult to get into, and therefore quite popular with young British actors and celebrities, so there would be lots of photographers lingering outside.

“We’re actually doing it then?” Scorpius asked. Albus nodded.

“I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t, unless you’ve had second thoughts of course.” Scorpius had second, third and fourth thoughts about it. But right now, with one celebratory glass of champagne already whizzing around his bloodstream, he couldn’t see why not. It could be fun.

“Nope.” He looked over and smiled at Albus, reaching out and squeezing his hand.

It had been a while since Scorpius had been to a club. The music was always louder than he expected it to be, and he never seemed to really know any of the songs they’d play. His mother had raised him on the classical music she had danced to when she was younger. A party in the Malfoy household was adults grouping together drinking expensive wine and eating expensive cheese, and his motherencouraging him to play the piano or the violin for their guests before he was sent to bed.

Even as he grew up he never became the type that particularly enjoyed clubs. Albus had dragged him to cast parties or birthdays in the past, but he always managed to come up with some sort of excuse to leave early. Tonight felt different though.The alcohol in his veins on this occasion felt nice. And it was fun to throw his head back and jump around ridiculously with Albus and Rose and even Victoire, who had subsequently brought Teddy along too. He felt a pang of guilt about having to lie to Teddy after this, but then Albus handed him another drink and he promptly forgot. He wasn’t drunk, he didn’t think, at least not yet. Just bubbly. His body was light and it was easy to smile wide. He was having fun.

It also meant he wasn’t nervous at all about what him and Albus were about to commit to. In fact, he was almost excited. Scorpius had never done anything particularly rebellious. Pretending to be in love with someone just to sell a movie made him feel like a proper celebrity. Normally he would have felt bad about deceiving people like this, but him and Albus had been glancing at each other all night, and he could tell that Albus was just as thrilled by the idea. Nobody knew about their plan. Delphi would figure it out as soon as she saw it in the morning, but they weren’t planning on telling anybody else. The two of them left Room of Requirement at around 3:30 am. Albus spotted the photographers first.

“You sure you wanna do this?” he asked Scorpius, genuinely concerned. His voice was only slightly slurred. Scorpius hadn’t had a drink in a few hours, and that question seemed to sober him up entirely.He blinked slowly, nodding his head.

“Yes. It’ll work.”

“Ok then.” Albus reached forward, grabbing Scorpius by his belt loops, and suddenly his mouth was on his.

It was…odd. Good. But odd. Warm. Scorpius hadn’t realised how cold he had been outside the club.Albus' hand drifted from his belt loops to his waist properly. Scorpius wondered if he was on his tiptoes. Somewhere in his brain he realised that Albus was the first boy that he had ever kissed. He had always been open to the idea of kissing guys, but it hadn’t happened until right now. He certainly wasn’t opposed to it, that was for sure. He was suddenly overcome with the urge to run his hands through Albus’ hair, but he held back, not wanting to force Albus into anything.

Scorpius could tell that the paparazzi had moved closer. He could hear them shouting their surnames. Albus pulled away as he heard a taxi slide up next to them. Scorpius was almost disappointed.

* * *

Albus knew instantly that he had made a mistake. Scorpius had been shivering slightly on the road outside Requirement, smiling at Albus as he asked whether he really wanted to do this.

Albus nearly collapsed as soon as their lips met. He held on to Scorpius' waist for support but that only made it worse.

Everything he thought he had moved past came flooding back. Suddenly he was thirteen again, and Scorpius was perfect. It wasn’t even that intense a kiss but still his heart pounded in his chest and his legs began to wobble. He hadn’t even realised he had moved up onto his tiptoes. Hearing the paparazzi advance, he pulled away and signalled for the nearest taxi, jumping in. He felt Scorpius get in beside him. He was grinning and giggling.

“That was… such a rush!” Albus had to force himself to act normal, he couldn’t let Scorpius suspect anything. So he smiled back.

“It was, wasn’t it?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh Albus, what have you gotten yourself into. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! I am getting really invested in this little world I'm creating, and I hope everyone's enjoying it! 
> 
> If you are unaware about Simon Snow and confused about whats going on in these movies, feel free to leave a comment or message me on tumblr (i'm @rapunzhel over there too) about it!
> 
> Also, join my Cursed Child discord! Just message me for the link, it's really fun I promise! 
> 
> (Also special shout out this week to Dom Short who plays Albus in London and his voice.)


	4. Feasts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the morning after Scorpius and Albus' first kiss, and they're both quite hungover.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own any of these characters.

Scorpius Malfoy woke up feeling like complete and utter shit. His head was pounding and his stomach felt like it was turning itself inside and out agonisingly slowly. He turned onto his side, groping for his phone and water bottle. Guzzling down half a litre of water, he tried to turn on his phone. It was dead. He reached down and plugged it in to the charger.

He had been out with the cast last night, celebratory drinks for finally finishing reshoots on Eighth Dance. He had a vague memory of fighting with Albus before he came home with him. _Wait,_ he thought,_ I came home with him? That doesn't sound right. _

He saw the bright white light of his phone flash on next to him. He opened it up and on reflex went to Twitter.

#SnowBaz was trending. Along with #Scorbus. And then his name and Albus Potter’s.

One picture was all over the internet.

_Oh yeah_, he thought, _that’s what happened last night._

* * *

Albus hadn’t slept at all. Scorpius lived in a one bedroom apartment and he had refused to let him sleep on the sofa. “Everything in here is modern,” Scorpius said in that hushed voice everyone did on reflex in the early hours of the morning, “which means it looks nice, but it’s,” he yawned, “…completely uncomfortable. And I have spare clothes, take whatever you want.” He gestured to his drawers at the back of his room before climbing into bed without changing clothes himself. Scorpius passed out as soon as he collapsed, sleeping on his side and hugging his pillow. Albus opened Scorpius’ drawers, sliding the first one quickly shut as it was full of his underwear. The second one down had t-shirts and tracksuit bottoms. He picked a pair up, but immediately put them back. They were organised so neatly, and were so soft. And they were all green or grey. They were so _Scorpius_. The thought of putting his clothes on, and them being too big for him, and them _smelling_ like him…It was too much. Instead, he climbed into the bed as quietly as he could, still in his jeans and t-shirt. Scorpius started to snore softly. Albus just laid there, flat on his back, eyes closed but mind racing.

He thought about Scorpius mainly. About kissing Scorpius. How he had to stand on his tiptoes to do so because he was so _tall._ He had never truly appreciated just how tall he was. Feeling his blond fringe on his forehead made him want to run his hands through his hair but even just having them on his waist felt like a privilege.

Scorpius muttered as he slept. Nothing coherent. But Albus’ eyes shot open when he heard his own name mumbled in the darkness.

The worst thing was nothing about this situation was new. Scorpius and Albus had shared a bed so many times before. It shouldn’t be this difficult to sleep next to him again. His mind wandered back to the first time it had happened. They were thirteen, and in America for the first time. Albus was so excited to be away from his dad who always wanted so much from him, and James who constantly antagonised him. James had taken completely after their mother, inheriting everything but her kindness. He could have gone pro in any sport he wanted, but football was in the family. Albus could barely kick a ball, let alone have it go in the direction he was aiming. James was constantly heckling him for acting or reading, or just in general not fitting in with the rest of them. And then there was the fact that Albus had fallen hard and fast for Scorpius, something which, at the time, he thought he would never tell anyone.

He did miss his mum and Lily though. Lily and Albus both fought with James, but the three year gap in-between his eldest and youngest siblings meant their relationship was slightly better. But Albus and Lily definitely got along the best in the Potter household, and he missed reading her bedtime stories, even though James would proclaim that she was far too old for that now.

He was halfway asleep when he heard the knock on the door. Three sharp raps. A pristine, Malfoy, knock.

He practically jumped out of bed. He opened the door to Scorpius, not wearing his glasses so his eyes were slightly squint. He was in his green and grey striped pyjamas. He looked exceptionally cute, and Albus shrunk into himself when he laughed at his top. A Simon Snow shirt. But Scorpius was smiling kindly, so Albus couldn’t keep one off his face either.

“Did you want to order room service?” He asked. Albus nodded quickly in agreement. They ordered burgers and milkshakes and chocolate cake and didn’t finish any of it. It was heaven.

Scorpius collapsed onto Albus’ hotel bed dramatically once he declared defeat, eyes half-closed. Albus desperately didn’t want to scare him away, so he didn’t say anything. He just climbed into the bed next to him. “Mum always says you have the best dreams when you go to sleep after eating chocolate.” Scorpius murmured. Albus took that as a sign that he wasn’t going back into his own room, but still, he didn’t breathe for what felt like 5 minutes. A small part of him was still sure that Scorpius would get up and leave. But he didn’t. And they both fell asleep. Whenever they did this again over the years, Albus would always be the second one to fall asleep even though Scorpius never once left for his own bed. Even when they were both too tall, and too old, to be ordering ridiculous amounts of food and sharing a bed. “It’s only for one night,” Scorpius once said, stuffing an unholy amount of pizza into his mouth, “and it’s a tradition.” Albus smiled at him, “one I have no intention of stopping.” Scorpius grinned back. 

Then Scorpius had started dating Rose and their jet-lag fuelled feasts had ended. Albus should have convinced himself then and there that it was time to move on. But he didn’t. Ridiculously, he held on to a tiny shred of hope. Once they had broken up, and they went on the press tour for the seventh movie, Albus stayed awake all night, waiting for Scorpius to knock on his door. But he didn’t. Albus’ heart broke silently, alone in the darkness.

Scorpius had looked slightly guilty when they saw each other at breakfast the next morning, but he didn’t bring it up throughout their entire day of interviews together. So Albus didn’t bring it up either. And in the bright lights of LA, Albus finally moved on. In the gap between the press tour and the start of production on _Eighth Dance_, Albus started dating for the first time. Nothing stuck, but it felt good to meet new people. To like new people. He was happy. And he was glad that when he saw Scorpius again in their trailer on the first day back on set, his heart didn’t beat more than the healthy amount. Albus got over his childhood crush.

Until tonight. Kissing Scorpius brought back all those unwanted feelings he had pushed down into a corner of his mind. They were back sharing a bed, and Albus was back wishing they were doing something more than just sleeping. His mind taunted him with the fact that occasionally they would. But it would never be real. Every kiss they shared would be all for show. Albus hated the fact that he had came up with the dumb idea, but he couldn’t back out of it now because then Scorpius would suspect something was wrong.

Eventually the sun began peeking out underneath Scorpius’ blinds. Albus was eternally grateful for early summer mornings. He got up, wandering into the kitchen for some water to ease the headache he could feel building. On the sleek white counter top stood Scorpius’ bottle. He took it with him everywhere. “I’m saving the planet!” He would yell over his shoulder as he hopped back into his trailer because he had forgotten it for the hundredth time. It was green and silver (his two favourite colours seemed to adorn everything he owned, Albus noted) and had his initials, SHM, engraved in gold at the bottom. Albus filled it up before making himself a drink. He crept back into the bedroom. But Scorpius’ apartment was so new that he didn’t even have to. Albus’ floor would have creaked under even the lightest of footwork.

Scorpius’ feet peeked out underneath the duvet. _So damn tall_.

He placed the water bottle on the side, next to his phone. It wasn’t plugged in, and was probably dead. Albus considered putting it on charge, but thought that would be too weird.

He wandered back into the kitchen, finally clicking on his own phone and braced himself for the impact.

* * *

Scorpius rolled onto his other side, letting his phone drop onto his pillow. Albus wasn’t there. He frowned. After drinking some more water he finally pulled himself out of bed, cursing whoever had invented alcohol. His memory returned to him in fits and starts. It wasn’t an argument he had been having with Albus outside the club, his brain had suggested that to him at first because it seemed the most likely option. He remembered dancing with Teddy, Albus handing him a drink, Rose looking at the two of them. The last one worried him slightly, but he was too hungover to think about what that might mean.

He remembered feeling the wind on his arms outside but not being cold. And Albus’ lips on his own.

He ran his hands through his hair. Shaking out the memories. He heard his kettle flick on in the other room.

“There better be enough water in their for about ten cups of coffee,” he said hovering in the doorway. Albus chuckled awkwardly. He was wearing the same t-shirt and jeans he had on last night. Scorpius was horrified. “Did I make you sleep in that?”

“No, I insisted.”

“I have plenty of spare clothes here, I have some trackies if you want —”

“I’m fine, Scorpius.” Albus said harshly as the kettle boiled. “Sorry. Headache.” He pointed to his head. His golden curls were frizzy and bouncing in every direction. Scorpius got distracted by them, looking to see if he could spot any of the dark brown sprouting at the routes. He much preferred Albus’ natural hair. “Where’s the fridge?”Albus asked, and from the look on his face, it wasn’t the first time he had done so. He looked around Scorpius’ kitchen. All the cupboards were identical.When he moved out of his family home, Scorpius had wanted something modern. Something new. He loved the Manor house he grew up in, but it was always so dark and dusty, no matter how desperately his mother tried to lighten it up. His kitchen was now almost all windows, except for the line of cupboards on the back wall. A silence settled between them as Scorpius crossed over, opening the two doors in the centre.

“I only have almond.” He said, reaching in and grabbing the container of milk. Scorpius wasn’t fully vegan, or even fully vegetarian most of the time, but he was trying to be. He missed normal milk terribly, but almond was the next best thing. 

“Of course you do.” Albus smiled at him. Scorpius breath caught in relief at the sight of his smile. He didn’t want anything to change between the two of them. The last thing he wanted was Albus feeling uncomfortable around him, because he never felt uncomfortable around Albus. They had been good friends for 12 years. In fact, Scorpius would probably regard him as his closest friend. Best friends. It had been a while since they had properly hung out together, outside of a movie set. When they were younger they had done everything together.

Scorpius thought back to their countless interviews and quiz shows and red carpets. Christmasses at the Potters and New Years at the Malfoy’s, both very different affairs. They were taught by the same tutors and took their exams together when filming got in the way of a normal education. Albus made everything so much fun, and Scorpius had never felt scared or shy around him. Even when his mother had been really ill, Albus made him smile again.

Astoria Malfoy had always been small. She was a ballerina, it was in the job description. But in a hospital bed, surrounded by machines beeping and whirring, she looked even smaller. The cancer had come back again, and this time worse than ever. It would take a lot to fight it. Scorpius was terrified. But he couldn’t tell his mother that. And he definitely couldn’t tell his dad. Draco wasn’t as good at keeping up a brave face. Sat in the chair next to his wife, gripping her hand so tightly Scorpius worried it might fall off, his dad’s face was grave. He had dark circles under his eyes, and his clothes, usually so crisp and neat, were wrinkled. It broke Scorpius’ heart to see his parents so lost. So he had called the person who was the best at being brave.

Albus had met him at the hospital, hot chocolates from the vending machine down the hall in his hand. He was only 14 but Scorpius remembered thinking then how mature he seemed. How grown up. And about how grateful he was to have someone like him as a friend. His dad was sleeping at the hospital, and Scorpius couldn’t bear going back to the Manor alone. They sat in a corridor away from his mothers hospital room. It felt like they were worlds away from anyone; the cream linoleum floor seemed completely untrod, the only sounds were of distant hospital machines and occasional coughs.

“You can stay at ours, if you want? We’d have to share my bed, but it’s big enough.” Albus green eyes looked up at him. Scorpius burst into tears he had been holding back for days.

“Or, we can go somewhere else, or I can go, I’ll do whatever, Scorp. I’ll —”

“I’d love that, Albus.” Scorpius said, drying his eyes. “I’d love to stay at yours.” So Scorpius had wished his parents goodnight, kissing his father once and his mother twice. He promised to be back before the sun had risen.

They took the train back to Albus’ house.

“I didn’t realise how far away you lived,” Scorpius said as they walked back from the train station, “You didn’t have to come, I would have understood.”

“I had to come, Scorp.” Albus had looked at him with such intensity…well Scorpius simply didn’t know what to think, let alone what to say. They walked the rest of the way in silence. When they got to Albus’ front door, he stopped before putting his key in the lock. “I’m gonna warn you, they’re…” he looked for the right word. “Loud.”

“I think I might need loud.” Scorpius said with half a laugh. Albus smiled at him. Scorpius smiled back. He opened his front door.

The Potter house was small compared to Malfoy Manor. The walls were a warm orange. Draco would have hated it. Albus lead Scorpius through to a living room, where a fire was roaring. Harry Potter was reading a magazine as Ginny typed away on a laptop, a football game on the television in the corner. When they saw Scorpius enter they both put what they were doing to the side. “Scorpius.” Ginny said warmly. Her short ginger hair was slightly ruffled, and she was wearing a brown cardigan over gym clothes. “It’s lovely to have you here. Can I get you a drink? Tea and biscuits? It’s our 9 o’clock tradition.” She grinned at him. Scorpius looked at the clock. It was only half-eight. “I’m sure Harry will let me push his routine a half-hour early.”

Scorpius blushed, and his stomach realised that the only thing he had eaten all day wasn’t even food, but the hot chocolate Albus had bought for him. “That would be nice, actually,” he nodded.

“I’ll just pop it on now.” She smiled and bounced into the kitchen.

“It’s nice to see you again, Scorpius.” Harry said to him, patting him on the shoulder. It was November, just about to creep into Christmas. The last time he had seen Harry was when he and Albus had been on variety show he hosted with his own father over the summer. Scorpius always regarded it as odd, that they would be seen together almost constantly on screen, but didn’t talk at all off of it. It certainly wasn’t at all the same as the relationship he shared with Albus.

“It’s nice to see you too, Mr Potter.”

“How many times, Scorpius,” he said, going back to his magazine, “call me Harry.”

“Kids!” Ginny called from the kitchen. “Tea’s ready!” Scorpius followed Albus into their kitchen, which was painted a soft blue, and in one corner was decorated with clouds that spread onto the sealing. Scorpius stared, unable to tell if they were painted or printed. Either way he loved them.

“Albus painted those.” A girls voice said from behind him. Scorpius turned to see Lily Potter. Her ginger hair was in pig tails, and she was wearing bright pink pyjamas that were beginning to be too small for her. Scorpius looked over to Albus, who immediately started blushing.

“I didn’t know you could paint.” Scorpius commented. Albus blushed even more.

“I don’t really, not much.”

“That’s not true!” Lily yelled. “He painted all of my room!” Lily gestured for Scorpius to pick up his tea and biscuits and follow her upstairs. She quickly poured herself a glass of milk and grabbed a handful of custard cremes.“C’mon, I’ll show you!” The youngest Potter bounded up the stairs and Scorpius was impressed to see not a single drop or crumb as he followed her. She had the attic at the very top of the house. Albus trudged along behind them. Scorpius shot him an exited look, and yet again he blushed. He had never seen Albus so embarrassed. It was usually Scorpius who did something ridiculous when they were together. Lily had reached the top of the stairs much before them. She stood waiting for them, tapping her foot impatiently, before dramatically pushing open the door once they reached her. “Ta daa!” She announced.

Scorpius gasped. The walls were a similar colour to the ones in the kitchen, but a bit of a brighter blue. But the real spectacle was on the wall that her bed rested against. Climbing up the wall were intricately painted flowers. Sunflowers and lilies and daisies and countless others that Scorpius couldn’t name climbed up the wall, with leaves and grass sprouting at the bottom. “_Oh._” Scorpius said, walking over to trace them with his fingertips, “it’s beautiful. Albus, this is magnificent.” Lily beamed at her older brother. Albus hid his face in his mug. Lily took a sip from her cup of milk. It left a her with a white moustache. From the glint in her eye it seemed to Scorpius that she did it on purpose.

“Huh?” Albus said, putting his mug down on Lily’s bookshelf. Scorpius noticed the Simon Snow books lined up proudly on the top shelf. “Where’s Lily Potter gone?” he said in an over-dramatic voice. He bounded over to her. ”She’s been replaced by an imposter!” He picked her up, bringing her up to eye level. She squealed.

“Albus, put her down.” Scorpius spun around. He hadn’t heard James come up the stairs. James and Albus looked spookily alike. He was only a year older, and his hair was slightly redder. It seemed Albus was the only one who hadn’t inherited even a small part of the ginger genes. “She’s not a baby.” Defiantly, Lily stuck her tongue out at her eldest brother.

“It’s just a bit of fun, James.” Albus said, annoyance in his voice.

“Yeah, well, she’ll be bullied for being childish if you don’t stop.”

“That seems a bit harsh.” Albus replied. But James just turned and walked back downstairs.

“What’s his problem?” Scorpius asked. Albus shrugged.

‘He’s probably just been dumped.” Lily said, giggling. “Girls are always dumping him.”

“Well, he’s lucky he can even get a girlfriend in the first place,” Scorpius suggested, thinking of Rose. An awkward silence fell into the room. Lily yawned. Albus and Scorpius excused themselves to let her go to sleep.

Albus’ room was messy. His bed wasn’t made, and there were clothes strewn over the walls. Half-read books were pressed open on his desk, along with his script they had just been given for movie four. “Oh, god, sorry about this,” he muttered as he dashed around trying to make the place more presentable. Scorpius found a clear spot on his bedside table for his mug, and sat on the edge of his bed. “It’s fine. It’s _nice_, actually. It feels like a home.” Albus sat down next to him. Their legs pressed together. It was nice to have human contact. To have a weight to lean against. Scorpius felt himself grow heavier as a silence grew between them. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence though. Albus just sat there, his shoulder strong as Scorpius began to cry against it.

When Scorpius composed himself a few minutes later, he didn’t mention it. Instead, all he said was, “c’mon. Mum thinks she’s hidden the good biscuits, but I know where she keeps them.” And they adventured back down into his kitchen, gathering supplies for another late night feast.

As he poured in the milk to both their coffees, of which Scorpius had significantly more, he scoured the cupboards for his own tub of biscuits and for the sugar. Scorpius remembered how Albus disgustingly drank his coffee with no sugars. He shuddered as he slid it across the counter before dumping three generous tea spoons into his own. “I don’t know how you can drink it like that.”

“Still got a ridiculously sweet tooth then?”

“You bet.” He winked. The coffee sat uncomfortably in his stomach at first, but the more he drank the more like himself he began to feel. They sat in Scorpius’ lounge at opposite ends of the sofa, Scorpius mindlessly flicking through daytime television and munching on chocolate digestives. Albus was on his phone, texting. He looked concerned. “Is everything —” but before he could even ask the question Albus phone started to ring. Scorpius saw the name flash up on the screen. Delphi.

“Can you not detect sarcasm, Potter?” Albus hadn’t even tapped the _speaker_ button and Scorpius could hear Delphi’s voice. He tapped it anyway, scooting over to Scorpius and holding it in-between them. “Or are you deliberately trying to make my life hell?”

“Good morning to you too, Delphi.” Albus said, rolling his eyes. “Scorpius is here, by the way.”

“Of course he is. Morning, Malfoy. I can’t believe you let him rope you into something like this.”

“Why do you assume it was his idea.” Scorpius said, faking offence. “Wait a minute, why do you even assume it’s fake?” He asked, smirking at Albus.

“Because, Malfoy, I know your type. And I know you still have some braincells left. All the fight scenes Potter’s done has knocked all of his out.”

“That’s incredibly rude.” Albus said, smirking back at him.

“It’s working though. Isn’t it?” Scorpius continued. Despite the fact that it wasn’t his plan, Scorpius felt rather defensive of it. Defensive of Albus. “Hold on one sec.” He dashed into his bedroom and grabbed his phone. Immediately notifications came flashing in on every single piece of social media he had. Underneath every mention of #Scorbus, there was also a mention of #SnowBaz and #EighthDance. “People are talking about us again.” Delphi didn’t respond, but they could faintly here laptop keys typing away. He started quoting tweets aloud until he landed on the one photo again. Albus on his tiptoes, face angled towards his, both of them smiling.

It was really convincing.

“Just don’t mess it up.” Delphi finally said.

“We won’t.” They chorused back.

“I’ll speak to you again later, boys.” And with that she hung up the phone. Albus collapsed back into the sofa, yawning. “I should probably get home.” Scorpius finished his coffee, walking over to the sink.

He noticed something out the window. A flash. “Oh my god.”

“What?” Albus said, immediately concerned, “Is something wrong.” He jumped off the sofa to join Scorpius by the windows. “Oh.”

There were a few photographers milling around outside his apartment block. When they saw Albus, all of the cameras started flashing. “Don’t you have blinds?” Albus asked as Scorpius stood there, dumbfounded.

“Yeah.” He coughed. “Yes, yes of course I do.” He reached over to the cord. “But…” he raised his eyebrows, hoping Albus would catch onto what he was suggesting.

“Oh.” Albus nodded, lost for words. Scorpius mimicked what Albus had done last night. He pulled Albus in by his belt loops, planting a quick, chaste kiss on his lips before pulling the blinds down.

“I can’t believe they know where I live.” Scorpius said, moving on straight away from the fact that he had just kissed Albus Potter completely sober and when they were completely alone.

“They must have followed us last night.”

“Those photos will probably be all over twitter by this evening.” Scorpius leaned on the counter, smiling slightly. “You know, I didn’t think people still cared about what we did.”

“Well,” Albus said, his face pale but his cheeks red, “they clearly do. But, urm, anyway,” he cleared his throat, “I do really need to get back.” Scorpius showed Albus out.

He sighed against his door frame once he shut it. His heart was racing like he was a kid again.

* * *

As soon as Albus heard Scorpius shut his door he stopped dead in his tracks, leaning on the apartment walls. Kissing Scorpius sober, even that small kiss, was about a million times worse than it had been when he was drunk. He ordered a taxi on his phone, waiting in the corridor until it arrived, not wanting to face flashes and yells about him and Scorpius.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am really starting to feel sorry for Albus. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! These chapters are definitely longer than what I had initially planned, but with NaNo on at the moment I'm really powering through them. I'm really excited to say that there is a really fun chapter coming up that I'm currently drafting now and I cannot wait for everyone to read!


	5. Champagne

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A week has passed since Albus and Scorpius kissed, and now they have a flight to catch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own any of these characters!

They only had a week in-between the reshoots and the start of the press tour. They were doing things backwards this year. Starting in LA, then heading to New York, and then ending in London. Back where it all started. Just another tactic. Promoting nostalgia. After that then they’d have a month off before the last gasp in early December when they had all the premieres to fly around to.

And all the while Scorpius was going to be pretending to be in love with Albus Potter. His head still slightly reeled from the first two kisses they had shared. Mostly out of confusion. There was definitely something odd about kissing your best friend. 

Scorpius hadn’t seen Albus at all in that week.Albus had looked particularly flustered, concerned by the fact that the press had stalked them back to Scorpius’ apartment. Scorpius knew to give him space.

Years of being friends with Albus had let Scorpius know when to coddle him and when to just let him breathe. He didn’t particularly do well with authority figures, or with people who tried to control or predict what he might do. When they were fourteen he had a harsh falling-out with his dad, and it had led to a heartbreaking couple of weeks where he had flat-out ignored Scorpius every time he reached out. And once they finally spoke again they had the worst fight they had ever had to this day.

"You don't need to check up on me all the time, Scorpius!" Albus had said to Scorpius on his porch. Scorpius had decided to jump from texting and face-timing Albus into just going to visit him, where he couldn't ignore him. Looking back now, it was a stupid idea. He brought a backpack full of sweets and books and was intent on taking his mind off everything. "I'm fine." It didn't work at all. 

Scorpius' face fell. "I just..." 

"I can't be happy all the time like you, Scorpius." Albus had said in a huff, already turning away from him, "I don't think it's healthy, frankly." 

"I'm sorry you had a fight with your dad, Albus," Scorpius replied, grabbing onto his arm so he couldn't walk away. His voice was high-pitched, and he could feel the tears building. "But at least he's just in there!" He said, gesturing to Albus' warm home, filled with his siblings and his parents. His healthy parents. "At least a your home isn't a hospital!" Albus scrunched up his face, taking a deep breath in. He went to say something else, but then decided against it. He didn't say anything at all. He pulled his arm out of Scorpius' grip and opened his front door and just _left_. Left Scorpius alone, crying, on the porch of his house. Left Scorpius alone with the thoughts of how his mother was dying in a cold hospital. 

Albus just _left _him. 

So Scorpius went home. To his cold, empty home. 

The next morning, when Scorpius was making breakfast and about to go to the hospital, he heard a rather urgent knock on his door. He opened it to the entire Potter family. Ginny looked particularly concerned, and she was hand in hand with Lily. The sight of Albus' mother made Scorpius cry again. Ginny barrelled him into a hug. 

"I am so sorry, Scorpius." She said, pulling away from him but keeping her hand on his shoulder. "What Albus did to you yesterday, it's frankly not acceptable." Scorpius looked from Ginny Potter to Albus, who was hiding behind his older brother. James stepped to the side, leaving Albus in plain view. He was wearing a green hoodie, the hood up to protect himself from the measly drizzle, and his eyes were bright underneath his brown hair that was forced into his face. 

He looked destraught. He looked up at Scorpius. "I'm sorry, Scorpius. I really, really am." They looked at each other and for a second Scorpius forgot the rest of his family were there, getting damper and damper in the rain. He had the urge to do what he had come to the Potter household to do yesterday. He scooped his best friend up into a hug. Scorpius can feel Albus crying, and he knows he doesn't ever cry in front of anybody. He tucks his head into Scorpius' neck, wiping his head on his shoulders before he pulls away to try and hide the tears from his family but his eyes are red and puffy. None of the Potters mention it, though. Lily comes over and takes Scorpius' hand. It's a simple gesture, but it means the world. Scorpius invites them in. They immediately make the Malfoy kitchen their own. Scorpius is grateful to see it lively again. It's quite different to the way Draco and Astoria dance around each other in the kitchen. Much more of a mess is made. Draco is always on washing up duty when Astoria cooks. It seems neither Ginny nor Harry seem too fussed about cleaning. Albus, who had taken the seat next to Scorpius at the kitchen table, legs pressed together in silent comfort, notices how Scorpius tenses as the dishes pile up. He gets up wordlessly and starts cleaning them. He sends a smile to Scorpius, and Scorpius returns one. With that small gesture, he knows that they're good again. 

From that nightmare of a 24 hours, Scorpius learnt that Albus didn’t like to smothered, but also that if he was left on his own for too long he had the tendency to explode. Over the years they developed a compromise, that Albus wasn't allowed to ignore Scorpius' messages if he was pissed off, but Scorpius would give him space when he asked for it. So they talked to each other in messages over the week, but Scorpius didn’t arrange to meet him in person. Most of Albus texts that day were concerned with Scorpius' safety, Scorpius having to assure him the he wasn’t being hounded. It was true. Once Albus had gone, the press eventually filtered away knowing that they could find more profitable photos elsewhere. A few came back in the evening, perhaps hoping that Albus would show his face again, but mostly they left him alone when he was out and about.

On the Friday before they were due to fly out to California, he’d been called into a meeting with the Royal Shakespeare Company to find out if he had gotten the part of Macbeth. He was pretty confident as he on got the train to the Globe offices that he had got it. But the closer he got the more and more certain he became that they were calling him in to tell him personally that he just wasn’t good enough. His mind spiralled. _Why on earth would we hire a boy who’s been parading around as a pretentious vampire for his entire life to play_ Macbeth, _for heavens sake? _He imagined them saying to him. _As if, Malfoy_. 

But of course that’s not what they said. The director, Neve Finnegan-Thomas, was thrilled to have him on board, “we were truly honoured when you came into audition for us.” She had smiled at him. She was young, her bright pink air popped against her dark skin, and she was wearing ripped denim dungarees. She was far cooler than Scorpius, far cooler than he thought anyone putting on a Shakespeare production might be. “Simon Snow, and Baz, have had such a massive pop-cultural impact, to have someone like you a part of this is truly going to transform the scope of the production. This Scottish tragedy is going to be magical like never before!” She gave him a massive hug and handed him the production script almost immediately.

She then introduced him to the rest of the production team. “We’re still in the middle of casting Lady Macbeth, but we’ve had some really exciting and interesting girls come forward.” They then Skyped in with Delphi just to finalise all schedules, making sure any and all Simon Snow promos and last-minute interviews wouldn’t get in the way of this new adventure. Scorpius felt like he hadn’t got a word in all day, he was just shown exciting thing after exciting thing, all he could do was clap his hands together and gasp in awe. As they hung up the phone with Delphi, though, he finally got to speak.

“I just want to say a massive thank you to you, Neve, for bringing me on to this project. I am so excited to work on this. I can just feel that it’s going to be phenomenal.” As he said that, she gave him another massive hug, and he could feel like this was going to become a trend with Neve. He could see a new path forming for his life. And he was so excited for it. He was almost giddy with it, he felt like a kid again. 

Before he stepped out, a bottle of champagne was thrust into his hands by an intern who looked rushed off his feet. Scorpius sat on the tube, clutching the champagne, immensely grateful because he was planning on raiding a sweet shop before he was given it. It struck him then that it would be far too sad to sit at home and drink it alone. He could head to his parents, but he didn’t want to travel that far considering he had to be at Gatwick at god-knows what time in the morning. It wasn’t until he was stood in Albus’ tube station that he had the idea. Still riding on the high of officially getting the job he decided that, instead of getting on the next train that would take him to his own one-bed flat, he exited and walked to Albus’, praying that he was in, and praying he didn't mind the surprise..

His flat was about a five minute walk from the tube station. He pressed the number 13 buzzer at the entrance to Albus’ building.

“Hello?” A confused Albus Potter asked.

“It’s me, Scorpius.” He replied, “can I come in?”

“Oh! Oh yeah sure,” and Scorpius heard the door release. He walked into the apartment building and pressed the button for the elevator. It took a while to come, something which Scorpius understood when the doors opened and he saw Albus standing there. He had rode down to meet him. He was wearing an oversized blue jumper and his hair was messy and it was “brown!” which Scorpius did not mean to say out loud. “Your hair, I mean. It’s brown again!”

Albus self-consciously ran his hands through it. “Yeah, yeah it is.” He grinned. “What are you doing here?” Scorpius brandished the bottle of champagne. “With that?” Albus looked pointedly at it.

“I need to celebrate,” he said waving it in the air, “and you were the closest person.”

Albus stepped to the side, letting Scorpius into the lift. “Ah,” he said as they climbed up, “so I’m a friend out of convenience.” He said, pretending to be hurt.

“Of course.” The lift dinged and they stepped out onto Albus’ floor and into his apartment. It was as messy as always.

“What are we, you, celebrating then?” he said as he got some standard drinking glasses out the cupboard, he blushed as he put them down. “Sorry, I don’t even have wine glasses.”

“That’s fine.” Scorpius popped the champagne cork. Albus ducked as it flew over his head and disappeared behind his kitchen table. “And, do you remember that audition I went to? After the meeting with Delphi at the Three Broomsticks?”

“I do.” Albus nodded, as Scorpius poured the drink.

“Well… I got the part!”

“That’s wonderful Scorpius!” they raised their glasses, clinking them together, “but you still haven’t told me what you actually auditioned for?” Scorpius coughed at the bubbles, and then giggled.

“Did I not?” Scorpius eyes went wide.

“Nope.” Albus shook his head.

“Well, sorry. Drumroll," Albus obliged, drumming his hands on the table, "it was Macbeth!” 

Albus gasped. “Congratulations! But I thought you weren’t allowed to say it out loud?” he asked sarcastically.

“I think we’re safe in your apartment. Just learn all the epithets for when you come and see me in three months.”

“Of course, of course.” Albus nodded. “Wow." He sipped his champagne, eyebrows raised, "so you’re a proper actor now?”

“Yes! Isn’t it exciting?” Albus rolled his eyes. “You know, that’s the same thing Teddy said.” They walked over to Albus’ sofa. Albus had to clear a space for Scorpius, it was mostly covered in hoodies, books, and scraps of paper. A sketch book sat open onto a drawing of some male figures, but Albus snapped it shut before Scorpius could get a better look. 

“I think that’s probably the first thing me and Lupin have had in common.” Albus noted.

“Have you thought about what you’re going to do, once all this Simon Snow stuff is finally over?” Scorpius asked.

“You talk about Simon Snow like you’ve finally been released from prison.”

“It’s felt like I have been.” Scorpius scoffed.

“Surely you must have enjoyed yourself?” Albus said, defending the thing he loved so much. “We’ve had fun, haven’t we?”

“Of course I have. I loved working on it, I loved being Baz. Once I got used it. But I got so used it, you know. It was the same thing every year.” Scorpius chuckled. “That’s why I’m going along with your ridiculous plan. I need to switch things up a bit.” Albus wasn’t really laughing. Scorpius desperately wanted to change the subject. He hated how they didn't seem to be on the same wave length anymore. A part of him missed being a kid, but the only thing he really wanted back was his easy friendship with Albus. “Speaking of,” Scorpius said, “we should probably think about what sort of charitable thing we’re going to do as well.”

* * *

Albus spent the rest of the evening trying to forget the comment Scorpius had made about Simon Snow and their plan. They decided that they’d do the popular thing of hiring out local cinemas and inviting disadvantaged kids to come have dinner and watch the movie for free across the country, visiting a couple of the cinemas over the weekend. Scorpius emailed the idea over to Delphi, and within minutes they got a reply. She was eternally grateful that they had finally come up with a proper idea.

Albus had always known Scorpius’ relationship with the movies they had made together was complicated. They were linked with such, terrible things in a way. His playing of the antagonist until the Insidious Humdrum came along meant that he was incredibly lonely on set most of the time, as much as Albus tried to include him, the other kids seemed to think he was as evil as the vampire he pretended to be. Which simply wasn’t the case.

“Your kind, Scorpius. From the depths of your belly to the tips of your fingers.” Albus had once told him, in a moment where he was only just starting to realise just how much the blond meant to him. “Your nothing like Baz, you’re so much better.”

And then there was the fact that his mum had been so ill when they were filming the middle movies. How Scorpius still managed to work then struck Albus as so impressive. He was in awe of Scorpius Malfoy.

He just wished there was a way of telling him that. A way of telling him that didn't also reveal the fact that he was very clearly still hopelessly in love with him after all these years. 

At around 11pm, Scorpius suddenly realised that they had to be at an airport in six hours and got up to order a taxi.

“You could sleep here, if you want?” Albus found himself asking before his brain registered what was going on. “I figured, in America, we’ll probably be sharing rooms anyway. Cause we’ll be ‘dating’” He put in massive air quotes.

“I’d love to stay, Albus,” Scorpius replied, yawning. Albus’ heart dropped. “But none of my stuff is here.” Of course.

“Oh, yeah. Of course.” Albus hated how disappointed he was.

“But, we should probably show up together. Might as well start as we mean to go on, so I’ll come over here at like,” Scorpius glanced at his watch and shuddered, “4:30 am?”

“Perfect,” Albus said, and he showed Scorpius out, lingering at the door after he watched the lift doors close.

He needed to get a grip.

* * *

They taxi’d to Gatwick airport together at far too early in the morning for Scorpius liking. He had managed to squeeze in a nap during the short car ride, already knowing that he wouldn’t be able to sleep on the plane, he had pages of interview notes to go over that Delphi had been organising for them as she finalised all the magazines and tv networks they would be meeting over these next two weeks. They would be flying over with Delphi, Rose and Victoire. Teddy was along for the ride too. (“Turn down a free holiday?” Teddy had said when Scorpius had asked him whether he was coming, “now does that sound like me?” Scorpius had laughed, shaking his head.) “Well, well, well,” the now turquoise-headed boy had said to them when they walked into the terminal. “Look who we have here.” Scorpius hated having to lie to Teddy, but the less people they told the truth too, the less likely the secret was going to get out.

“I cannot believe neither of you told me about this,” Rose said, complaining. “Albus, truly, I’m hurt. We’re _family._”

“Hey, we’re all technically _family_.” Teddy had argued. 

“It’s all very new,” Scorpius said, catching Delphi’s eye. She was stood behind Rose, Teddy, and Victoire, shaking her head.

“And, not much has changed, really.” Albus finished.

“Except for the fact that we’re going to have to put up with you two snogging all the time.” Teddy said.

“That’s rich, coming from you.” Albus countered.

“Fair point,” he said, leaning to kiss Victoire on the cheek. She smiled, but rolled her eyes as well. 

“Lets just get through these two weeks, drama free, okay?” Victoire had pleaded, her voice lilting but firm in that lovely french way. Scorpius nodded in agreement.

“Right, love birds,” Delphi announced, “flight to catch.” She led them through check-in and security, Rose shooting them critical looks over her shoulder the whole time. Once they got through, Teddy and Victoire vanished into the depths of duty free shopping and Delphi and Rose went to get coffees.

Scorpius and Albus found a spot in the lounge near the vast windows to sit. Scorpius got out his now worn copy of Macbeth. It wasn’t exactly the script he would be working from in two months time, but he felt it was important to know the original pretty well. Albus got out a handheld video game, contraption, _thing_. Honestly, Scorpius had no idea what it was, but he was soon distracted by how Albus’ face scrunched up in concentration.

About ten minutes passed with them in comfortable silence, when Scorpius felt someone approach them. It was a young boy and his mum a few steps behind him. He was looking in awe at Albus. Scorpius nudged him with his foot, and he looked up.

“Are, you, urm,” the young boy said nervously, “Albus Potter?” Albus smiled at him, and nodded.

“I am, yeah.” The boy broke out into a massive smile and started nervously asking Albus Simon Snow-related questions. The mum came over to Scorpius. She was struggling with her crying daughter.

“Sorry, if you don’t mind. Would you take a picture of the two of them?”

“Yeah, yeah of course,” Scorpius said warmly, taking the phone she offered. He flicked it onto the camera, Albus leant forward, his arm around the kid. “Big smiles.” Scorpius said, snapping away. “Now do your serious, I’m-going-to-save-the-world-face.” And the boy frowned seriously. A second later he suddenly seemed to realise who Scorpius was. He couldn’t blame him, people hardly ever recognised him.

“You're Baz!” he said. “Muu_um_!” he yelled over to his mum, who had now quietened her daughter. “Come take a picture of all of us!” All his previous nerves had clearly dissipated. She put the child in her pram and Scorpius walked over to the other side of the beaming kid. They took a few more photos before the mum said that they had to go. “Do you have it?” the boy asked Albus before he was hauled away. “The Sword of Mages?” Albus looked around, and then put a finger to his lips.

“Shh.” He whispered, tapping at his side where the sword would hang, invisible. The boys eyes went wide. His mum practically dragged him away.

“That was sweet,” Scorpius said once they were out of earshot.

“It was,” Albus agreed. “I love meeting kids. I love it when they think I’m actually Simon.”

“Well, he clearly wasn’t terrified of me, so I must not look that vampire-like in real life.”

“Of course you don’t.” Albus said warmly.

Delphi plonked herself down on the seat opposite them, a large iced-latte in her hand. “I hope you two have thought this through.” She said.

“Of course we have.” Scorpius said in response.

“How much do Rose and that lot know.”

“They think it’s real. In fact, the only person who doesn’t so far is you.”

“And we plan on keeping it that way.” Albus added.

Scorpius nodded. “The less people that know the truth, the better.”

“Even your parents?” she asked. Scorpius winced, but nodded.

“We’ll hold hands whenever there’s press around, maybe, um, kiss on red carpets, and be couple-y on talk shows.”

“It shouldn’t be too difficult.” Albus said quickly.

“If you say so.” Delphi didn’t sound too impressed.

“And this isn’t all we have planned.” Scorpius said. He explained to her again the charity event that they had lined up for when they got back from America, knowing that her information retention wasn’t always the best during the busy times of the year..

“Okay,” she nodded, “glad to see you’re doing something practical as well.” They started going over the logistics of the charity cinema-screenings for the rest of their time spent waiting. Over the speakers about 20 minutes later, they heard that their gate was being announced. They wandered down to the other end of the airport together. They met Rose halfway there, but Teddy and Victoire didn’t show up until they were just about to board. They had a bag stock-full of chocolates and sweets.

“For you, Scorpius.” Teddy said, handing him a bag of his favourite peppermint sweets.

“Are you trying to make me look like a bad boyfriend, Lupin?” Albus had asked, Scorpius looked at him eyebrows raised. So they were using the B-word, now. Teddy also seemed to pick up on this. Scorpius threaded his hand into Albus’.

“Just keeping you on your toes, Potter.” Teddy said. “You’ll know for next time.” Impulsively, Scorpius leant down and kissed his new ‘boyfriend’ on the cheek. Albus did what he always did, his face going pale except for his bright red cheeks.

* * *

Albus was grateful that they were in first class. Not just because, well, it was first class after all. More for the fact that it meant he had some space to himself. He didn’t know what he would have done if he was going to be pressed against Scorpius for 11 hours.

About an hour into the flight, Rose came over to speak to him.

Albus had a tricky relationship with his cousin. They had been really close when they were little, but somewhere along the way they had fallen out slightly. They didn’t see eye to eye on most things. Rose was a rule follower, and hadn’t exactly agreed with some of his more rebellious moments he had when he was younger.

Now they were older, they were on pretty good terms, but she wasn’t the family member he’d go to in a crisis. He probably wouldn’t go to any of his family in a crisis though. He’d most likely go to Scorpius.

“So,” she said, leaning on the divider between her seat and his, “you and Malfoy?”

“Me and Malfoy.” Albus had said back.

“How long has it really been going on for?” She asked.

“What do you mean?”

“C’mon Albus, everyone knows you’ve had a crush on him for years. When did you finally win him over.” Albus stomach dropped. He didn’t realise his deepest secret wasn’t quite so secret. “Of course, I say everyone, Scorpius has always been oblivious.” Albus supposed that was of some comfort.

“It is as new as it seems.” He leant forward. “Rose, please don’t tell him, well, _that_. I don’t want him to think I’m obsessed.” He also didn't want their entire plan to be ruined. The slight squint in her eye worried Albus. There was always the possibility that Rose Granger-Weasley knew more than she was letting on. 

“I think it’s cute.” Rose sighed. “You’re much better suited to him than I was, anyway.” Rose suddenly seemed to realise something then. “Sorry about that, by the way. That couldn’t have been fun for you.”

It really wasn’t. Scorpius had always had a crush on Rose. And he had always made a fool of himself in front of her and she had always rejected him. And then she started being nice to him. And then they had started dating. It felt like Albus’ world had been turned upside down.

An awkward silence hung between them.

“Talking about me, are you?” Scorpius said, appearing behind Rose.

“We were actually,” she nodded.

“Oh.” Scorpius clearly wasn’t expecting that to be the case. He balked.

“All good things, don’t worry.” Rose said. Albus started tapping his leg. It was horribly awkward. “I’m going to go.”

“See you around.” Scorpius said as she popped her headphones back on and sat down.

“I need to stretch my legs.” Albus said, getting up. They had only been on the plane an hour. They walked over to where the bathroom was. “Rose is suspicious,” Albus said, leaning on the wall of the plane.

“Of course she is.” Scorpius sighed. He reached out and grabbed Albus’ hand, just sort of, holding it between them. It felt nice. And Albus' heart hurt. “The good thing is, Teddy is such a romantic that he won’t ever think it’s fake. And Victoire…”

Albus finished his sentence.”Victoire couldn’t care less.”

“Exactly.” Scorpius yawned. It reminded Albus of how tired he was. He hadn’t gotten any sleep after Scorpius had left. His mind had run through every single scenario that they could be faced with in interviews.

The plane bumped slightly. Scorpius’ grip on Albus’ hand got stronger. “Scared of planes?”

“Just scared of falling to my death.”

“I’d catch you.” Albus said sincerely. Scorpius laughed.

“Save the romanticisms for later in the week.”

“There’s a lot more where that came from.” Albus said. Scorpius laughed again.

“I’ll bet.” Scorpius truly had no idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! There is some EXTREMELY fun stuff coming up in future chapters. It's very self-indulgent, but very fun, and I cannot wait to get there! 
> 
> I've gotta shout out Dominic Short this time around for outfit inspiration for Albus and his blue jumper.


	6. Los Angeles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpius and Albus are in LA, and the press tour has begun...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I do not know anything about how press tours or LA itself works, so pls don't hate me if somethings seem a bit weird!)

Scorpius loved LA. He loved the sun, he loved the clear skies. As soon as they stepped out of the airport, Scorpius took a deep breath in and cleared his lungs.

He’d fantasised about moving out here when he was younger. Dreamt about stepping from his bedroom door onto the beach and eternal dusk when the sun would almost refuse to set. But now he couldn’t bear the thought of being so far away from his parents, and forced himself to be content with the five days of summer that England got each year.

He flicked his sunglasses onto his head, stretching out into the sun. Albus appeared next to him, brown hair glowing bronze. He fanned his shirt against his chest. Scorpius knew Albus didn't like the sun as much as he did, but he looked good in it. His darker skin shone brilliantly. Albus looked up at him and smiled though. They all climbed into a taxi that whisked them down to their hotel. Scorpius’ eyes never left the horizon, and he gasped slightly when the ocean first came into view.

They were staying in West Hollywood for the week. Scorpius could see the Hollywood sign from their hotel room window.

_He loved it._

Both he and Albus collapsed in their bed once the luggage had been dropped off, Scorpius resting his head against Albus’ arm, happy to finally be alone again and not feel like the world was scrutinising their every move. Scorpius napped intermittently. He checked his phone every time his eyes fluttered open again, distraught to see it was only mid-afternoon. He wanted nothing more than just to sleep for hours, but he knew that would wreck him for the rest of the week. “C’mon,” he said to Albus, rising from the bed and shaking life back into his long limbs. “Let’s go explore before dinner.”

They both got changed out of their clothes which were grubby from travelling. Albus threw on a baggy navy blue button up shirt and ripped jeans, Scorpius donning a pale pink t-shirt, faded blue trousers and a different pair of sunglasses, white rimmed aviators with blue lenses this time, that went better with this outfit. Albus popped a faded black New York Yankees cap on his head. They ventured out of their blissful air-conditioned hotel and into what Scorpius would call glorious and Albus would call too much mid-afternoon sunshine.

Scorpius didn’t really have a plan in mind as to where he wanted to go, so him and Albus just wandered around taking pictures and yawning and laughing at each others exhaustion. They ended up down by the Walk of Fame and the Chinese Theatre.

“You’re gonna be on here one day,” Albus said, toeing the stars. _George Clooney. Julie Andrews. Marilyn Monroe. _

Scorpius scoffed, “yeah, right.” But he turned to see that Albus was being serious. “You’re just saying that because you’re my _boyfriend._” He smirked.

“Maybe I am,” Albus shrugged, “doesn’t make it any less true though.” Scorpius blushed, shaking his head. Scorpius was glad he was wearing sunglasses, because Albus wasn’t and he hadn’t taken his eyes away from him. Scorpius kept looking away and back.

Their moment was interrupted by a young girl asking for a picture. The meeting was full of squeals and giggles, and it was beginning to attract attention that Scorpius knew neither of them wanted right now. Once they said goodbye they ducked into a little cafe to grab a drink, and avoid starting a swarm. Scorpius got an almost sickeningly sweet iced coffee, whilst Albus just got a bottle of water. The young fan seemed to remind them both of what this week was really about. Reading Scorpius’ mind, Albus asked, “so how do you reckon this week is going to go then?” They were sat tucked away in a little corner table, mostly hidden from view. “All the prep was just about the movies,” Albus said, referring to the questions some interviewers had sent in advance.

“But that doesn’t mean it’s all they’re going to ask about,” Scorpius nodded, seeing where Albus’ sentence was headed. “When the inevitable arises, we just tell as much of the truth as possible.” Scorpius took a sip from his drink. “We met when we were ten, we were friends for years, and then, with the movies coming to an end, something shifted.” Scorpius looked at Albus then, he was staring at the table, tracing the swirling patterns on the faux marble. “Are you having regrets?” he asked.

“Sort of,” he replied, looking up at Scorpius. Scorpius’ heart fell. Maybe he just didn’t want to be spending that much time with Scorpius anymore. He couldn’t blame him.

People never really understood _why _him and Albus were such good friends, they were completely different people. Scorpius a perfectionist, Albus throwing caution to the wind most days. Maybe Albus was finally starting to think this way too. “It’s just, I didn’t really think it through. All the people we’d be lying to.” Scorpius nodded, agreeing. “I’m lying to my mum. To Lily. It just feels wrong.” Impulsively, Scorpius reached over and grabbed Albus’ hand, stopping it from swirling.

“It’s only for a few weeks,” Scorpius said in a bad attempt to comfort him, “and, just promise me, try not to shut down.” _Or explode_, he finished in his head.

“I’ll try.” Albus ran his hand through his hair, forcing a smile onto his face. “Let’s carry on exploring.”

* * *

Albus tried to be in a good mood for the rest of the day, forcing the fact that he was lying to everybody he loved from his mind, and just enjoying spending time with Scorpius. He had been more honest than he had expected to when Scorpius asked what was wrong. But he couldn’t’t tell him the complete truth.

That he was completely and utterly in love with him. There was no point denying it anymore. Scorpius had come alive in the sunshine. All the Malfoy poshness and manners fell away to reveal the obsessive, excited, little kid in Scorpius that Albus adored. As they had been exploring it seemed to tick the final box in Albus’ heart.

Once they left the cafe, Scorpius reverted to his normal, happy-go-lucky, know-it-all best friend. He pointed out all the icons of LA, that Albus already knew about cause he had been here already so many times, but he smiled and nodded and pretended it was all new information. When the sun slowly started it’s descent into the sea, Albus suggested they head back to their hotel and order their traditional room service.

Falling asleep next to Scorpius, the smell of greasy burgers and sushi still lingering in the air, stomach full from chocolate milkshakes, felt much nicer than falling asleep next to him with his head whirling from alcohol and fake kisses.

Albus slept pretty well, even his dreams aware of the comforting weight on the other side of the mattress.

Albus was confused but happy when his jet lag woke him up ridiculously early that morning. He could feel an arm around his waist, and a head tucked into the crook of his neck. He felt safe. It took a couple moments for him to fully realise what was going on.

Then his eyes shot open.

Scorpius was pressed entirely up against him.

He could feel the other body wake up. Feel his longer legs stretch out. His head lifted up and he yawned, Albus’ feeling his breath on his cheek. Albus shivered.

“Oh,” Scorpius said as he woke up fully, but Albus closed his eyes, pretending to sleep. He felt Scorpius carefully move his arm out from underneath him, but he didn’t get out of bed. Albus could feel Scorpius linger over him, then he sighed and got up.

Albus ‘woke up’ once he heard Scorpius turn on the shower. And then he wished he pretended to be asleep for longer, because Scorpius looked ridiculously good coming out of the bathroom, hair damp and towel loosely around his waist. They got dressed quickly, neither of them saying much. Neither of them bringing up how they had become entangled that night. Albus knew it was because Scorpius was embarrassed. Every time they made eye contact his eyes flicked away, or he yawned, or he rubbed at his face. Anything to avoid eye contact. “Breakfast?” Scorpius eventually asked once they were both dressed.

“Definitely.” Albus nodded.

* * *

Scorpius' mind reeled as he got dressed. He could still feel Albus pressed up against him. He marvelled at how well their bodies fit together, but forced his mind to think of sugar and carbs and coffee instead as they rode down on the elevator. 

* * *

As always, Scorpius dumped an ungodly amount of sugar into his coffee once they got down to the buffet, whilst Albus just settled for orange juice.

Delphi cornered them before the other three appeared. “You’re both ready for today, then?” She asked, munching on an apple. Albus looked at Scorpius, who nodded. So Albus nodded too. He trusted Scorpius. “That doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence.”

“We’re ready.” Albus said, taking Scorpius’ hand. “It’s all going to be fine.”

“Whats going to be fine?” Teddy said from behind them.

“Oh, err,” Albus said, spinning around to face him. Scorpius answered where Albus faltered.

“The interviewers, you know how they get.” Teddy looked at them quizzically, “you know, asking too many personal questions. Insinuating… things. You know how they get.”

“You already said that,”

“I did, didn’t I?”

“You didn’t get much sleep last night, did you Malfoy,” Teddy said, eyes twinkling, “your brain never works properly when you’re tired.”

“That’ll be it, I suppose.” Scorpius said, clearly not clicking onto what Teddy was suggesting. Teddy winked, and then it finally dawned on Scorpius, who gasped and went bright pink. Teddy squealed.

Albus laughed at his clueless _boyfriend_, and then resisted to urge to shudder when even thinking that word hurt.

“Anyway,” Delphi said, coming to help Scorpius out of the hole he had dug himself into, “you guys need to eat and then we need to go. Taxi leaves at 8.”She walked off, and Teddy went to sit with Rose and Victoire. Albus and Scorpius followed suit, still holding hands.

Gratefully, Victoire kept the topic at the table away from anything related to Albus or Scorpius. She was already thinking about the next part of their trip, New York, and talking animatedly about Broadway. Albus couldn't wait to get there. He had been checking the forecast, and at the moment it was saying it was going to be raining all week. 

He truly couldn't wait. 

The waiter brought them some plates and they took themselves off to the buffet, Scorpius going straight to the waffles and maple syrup. Albus helped himself to a generous serving of eggs and bacon.

Once they were sat back down Albus snuck a bit of Scorpius waffle onto his plate, and he attempted to bat his hand away. Teddy cooed at this, causing both of them too blush.

“We’re hardly acting different,” Albus pointed out. It was the truth, they would have been like this whether they were 'dating' or not, and they all had the memories of previous press tours to prove it.

“I suppose. It’s just cuter now,” Teddy said, smiling. “Young love.” He rested his head against Victoires.

“Don’t even think about stealing some of my pancakes,” Victoire said, shoving him gently off her shoulder. Teddy stole a blueberry off the top of them instead, kissing her on the cheek as he did so.

“You’re all awful.” Rose said, mouth full of croissant.

* * *

Albus sat nervously in his chair next to Scorpius as they waited for their first interview to begin, fiddling with the bottom hem of his shirt. It was for a film magazine, so hopefully shouldn’t be easily derailed into gossip and rumours about their relationship. The interviewer soon entered, giving Albus and Scorpius a quick nod of hello as he got miked up. He was young, wearing a blazer over a graphic t-shirt. All of this filled Scorpius with confidence that he probably wouldn’t care about their personal lives.

They were cued in, and then the interview began. “Good morning, boys,” he said, a friendly smile on his face, “so, _Simon Snow and the Eighth Dance_? We finally made it to the end of the epic journey. What’s it gonna be like?”

Scorpius and Albus looked at each other. “Good, I hope,” Albus took the lead, “_we_ hope. It was sad to say goodbye, but we think we made something really magical.”

“Well, by the time this comes out, the final trailer would have dropped,” he looked at them hopefully, “any hints you can share?”

“You should know the rules by now,” Scorpius answered. “We may not wear the uniform anymore, but we’re still keeping Watford’s secrets.”

“Speaking of uniforms, what are your favourite costumes from the show?” He looked to Albus, “you sprouted some pretty impressive wings last year.”

“I wish I could say they were real, they were pretty impressive on the big screen.” Albus responded. “I was always infinitely jealous of Baz’s outfits though, all those suits and blazers were just exquisite.”

“Baz did have some rather adventurous fashion choices, and,” Scorpius lowered his voice, “he doesn’t disappoint this time around either.”

“I’m glad to hear it!” The interviewer continued. “Can you share any of your favourite memories from filming this last movie?”

Scorpius found himself compelled to answer, a clear memory coming back to him. “Mine is actually from quite recently, shooting Simon’s final scene, _no spoilers though_,” he looked at Albus, “it brought tears to my eyes. Albus is really wonderful in it. I can't wait for everyone to see it on the big screen.” Albus’ green eyes went wide.

“I didn’t know that.” He said, and Scorpius could see that it was true.

“You’re a pretty impressive actor, Albus.”

“Why thank you, Scorpius.”

“This is so cute,” Scorpius pulled his eyes away from Albus, and back to the interviewer. “Final question though, what’s next for you two?”

Albus bristled, clearly not expecting this question so early on. So Scorpius answered. “Well, I can’t say exactly, but I’m working on something really exciting, and I cannot wait to share it with the world.”

“Any hints at all?” Scorpius mimed zipping his lips shut. “Ah, well it was worth a shot. It was lovely speaking to you guys.”

And with that, their first interview was done, and they came out pretty unscathed. The interviewer thanked them again once the cameras stopped working, wishing them a speedy rest of their day, and then Albus and Scorpius had a couple minutes to regroup before the next one started.

Albus looked over to Scorpius, breathing a sigh of relief. Scorpius reached out and squeezed his hand, nodding.

The day continued in a blur of repetitive questions and almost robotically giving answers, and rare real smiles when they were asked something original and genuinely interesting. Not many people asked about the two of them.

Scorpius didn’t really know whether that was a good or bad thing, though. The whole point of this whole dating thing was to create new hype about the movie, and so far everyone had just been asking the same old questions. He didn’t want to think too much about it though.

And the whole thing wasn’t pointless. It had brought him back to Albus. Back to his best friend.

They had three days like that. Overall, most of the interviews had been about the movies. Scorpius didn’t really know why he had thought any differently. A couple times the interviewers had snuck in a, “you two are adorable, by the way!” They developed into a habit of blushing and saying thank you, and maybe giving each other a peck on the cheek or intertwining their hands, and for these short internet interviews this seemed to satiate the journalists. They settled into a routine together for all the other questions. Scorpius answered all the questions about the future, told the story about shooting Albus’ final scene, whilst Albus had the talking point of how jealous he was of Baz, and how he could finally say that now he wasn’t Simon either.

One interviewer had brought up the two of them though, but through Simon and Baz. Albus was visibly saddened by the fact that he had to tell them that the relationship never went beyond platonic in the movies. “But,” he said, looking into the camera, “if you connect to Simon, because you think he might be like you, then I one hundred percent support that. Simon is for everybody.”

It was when Albus said things like that, when Albus cared that much, that made Scorpius wish they could carry on working together. He didn't think he would meet anyone as deeply passionate as Albus was, ever. He didn’t want to think about what life would become when these three weeks were over.

He pushed any thoughts like that from his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! 
> 
> I know it was a bit of a shorter update, but please trust me, the next one is a good one!


	7. Disneyland

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang goes to Disneyland!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is by far my favourite chapter! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I loved writing it!

On their day off, Scorpius suggested that they all go to Disneyland. He had never been and had always wanted to. Luckily their jet lag hadn’t yet worn off, so him and Albus got up nice and early to beat the queues. Everyone but Delphi would meet them there at some point, but for the most part it would just be Albus and Scorpius spending the day together. Scorpius quite liked that, too.

Scorpius felt giddy as soon as they stepped foot onto Disney property. “Oh my gosh,” he said under his breath, “it’s beautiful.” Despite the early hour, there were a few people milling about waiting to be let in. Kids ran about in princess dresses whilst their parents sat against the railing, getting that last bit of rest before the rush of the day begun. Faint Disney music played and even the air smelt sweet. It was everything Scorpius had imagined. 

“We haven’t even got into the park yet,” Albus noted, thanking the clerk and passing Scorpius his ticket. 

“I know!” Scorpius squealed. “Just think what it's going to be like once we get in!” He grabbed Albus’ hand.

* * *

Albus was excited to spend the day with Scorpius. They had spent all week pressed up against each other, always on edge that someone was going to ask the wrong question and their whole scheme would be busted.

It helped that he would be alone with Scorpius for once. Albus had noticed that Rose had been shooting them curious glances all week, but she hadn’t managed to get Albus alone to question him again. And they didn’t have Teddy here to obsess over them. Even though they were surrounded by crowds of people no one really paid them any notice. Everybody was too wrapped up in the fact that they were in the _Happiest Place on Earth_ to give two normal looking guys any notice. Albus happily let Scorpius pull him along to the turnstiles and let the stress of the past week fade into the background, replacing it with twinkling music and the thrill of Scorpius grinning at him. They scanned their tickets and then they were in.

Albus had to admit, it was pretty beautiful. The castle appeared in front of them in a blush of pastel pinks and blues, the trees on either side burst in deep greens. All around them eyes darted around, hands excitedly pointing, the music playing barely covering the masses of “oohs” and “ahhs” from parents and children alike.

And Scorpius… Albus couldn't even described how good Scorpius looked surrounded by all the magic.

“Albus!” he said, “we have to get a photo in front of the castle!” They lingered behind the photographer, who was taking pretty romantic photos of a couple. Albus heart hurt slightly, wishing that could be him and Scorpius.

* * *

Scorpius couldn’t believe he was here. He had wanted to come since he had heard about it at five years old, but his mother had been too ill to go when he was little, and it didn’t really appeal to his dad. As soon as they stepped through the gates Scorpius vowed that he would get his mum here some day. She’d love it. He was pretty sure his dad would too, if he let himself.

Scorpius blushed as the photographer they were waiting for took photos of a couple kissing in front of the castle. They thanked her and wandered off on their adventures.

“Y’all want a photo?” the photographer asked him and Albus. Scorpius nodded quickly, dragging Albus into position. “Big smiles now!” Scorpius did as he was told, throwing his arm around Albus’ shoulders. He felt Albus look up at him, and turned his head. He was looking at him with such awe, Scorpius’ heart skipped a beat. “Y’all want to do the romantic ones?” the photographer asked. Scorpius noticed then that some people were looking over at them and whispering. A group of children packed together looked particularly excited whilst their parents stood behind them, telling them not to interrupt.

“Oh, urm, no.” Albus said, panicked. Scorpius heart sunk slightly but he forced his mind not to linger on what that might mean. Scorpius elbowed Albus, getting him to look over at the teenager not so subtly taking a picture of them both on her phone. He raised his eyebrows. “Actually,” Albus nodded, “we will.” Scorpius grinned.

“Okay then, give your boyfriend a kiss!” The photographer said. Scorpius leant down, bringing his lips to Albus’.

* * *

Kissing Scorpius in the happiest place on earth, where he could feel the smile on Scorpius’ lips, where he could hear people looking at them and squealing, sent a whirlwind of emotions through Albus.

He was happy and he was heartbroken, all at the same time.

* * *

They broke apart, and Albus immediately smiled up at Scorpius, but there was something in it that Scorpius couldn’t quite place. He looked pained, and Scorpius felt bad for putting Albus through it. He was clearly regretting the whole thing.

And Scorpius’ heart was pounding like it had never done before.

“All right then, one more, big smiles again!” Scorpius vaguely heard the photographer say. He smiled at the camera, although this time it felt more fake. He found himself having to remind himself that what they had decided to do together wasn’t real. _Just for show_. He told himself. They thanked the photographer and Scorpius shook the last moment from his mind. Luckily he was distracted by something shiny. He spotted the shops out of the corner of his eye, and all of the sparkly Mickey Mouse ears.

“I’ve got to get a pair of those!” he said, pointing to all the ears.

“I thought we came here to go on rides,” Albus complained as he happily followed behind Scorpius into the shop.

“We got here as the place opened, Albus. We’ve got _all day_!” A pair in the bottom corner caught his eye. “Oh my gosh! Albus this is meant to be!” He picked up a pair of sparkly green ears that were adorned with a silver bow in-between them. He put them on his head and turned to get Albus’ opinion. He had put an over sized Goofy hat on his head, and frankly he looked adorable.

“They’re pretty perfect, Scorp.” He grinned.

“And now you’ve put that on, you have to buy it you know.” Albus rolled his eyes but nodded. They paid for their items and exited the shop, although Albus had to drag Scorpius away from all the sweets and baked-goods in the next shop over.

“We’ve literally just had breakfast, Scorp,” Albus said.

“But they look so good,” Scorpius moaned, looking back at them.

“C’mon.” They finally got out of the store. “Let’s go on some rides!” Scorpius was thrilled to see that Albus wanted to be here as much as he did. It was going to be a good day, he just had to ignore the little kick his heart now insisted on doing every time Albus smiled at him.

* * *

Albus took them to Frontierland first. They had managed to get a fast pass for a couple things later in the day, but in the morning they’d have to queue. It wasn’t so bad as they had gotten to the park ridiculously early. Even though it wasn’t even October yet, Albus spotted some halloween decorations going up, and it got him excited for his favourite holiday to come around. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was the first ride he took Scorpius onto.

As their train began chugging up the first hill, clanking and creaking, Scorpius grabbed onto Albus’ hand. “Haven’t you been on a rollercoaster before?” Albus asked over the noise of the track. Scorpius shook his head. The Potters had taken a few holidays to the theme parks in England, and frankly Albus thought this one looked pretty tame to some other coasters he had been on. He didn’t mention that to Scorpius though. Albus just smiled at him and squeezed his hand. “You’re going to love it, trust me.”

* * *

Scorpius did. He trusted Albus with pretty much everything.

* * *

It only took the first drop for Scorpius to start smiling again. Although he didn’t let go of Albus’ hand the whole way round. He giggled to himself as the ride pulled back into the loading area. “You were right.” He said to Albus. “I loved it!”

“C’mon,” Albus, said, pulling Scorpius up and out of the car, “there’s so much more to do.” He pulled his goofy hat back onto his head and they practically ran out of the ride, laughing like children the whole way off, still holding hands.

* * *

Albus dragged Scorpius all the way to the other side of the park. “Space Mountain!” he proudly said as their next ride came into view. They waited in the queue for another half an hour, and then the ride appeared below them. This one looked like a proper rollercoaster, with the over-the-shoulder restraints and everything. Scorpius grew nervous again, even though he knew he had nothing to actually be scared of. Albus noticed him grow quiet. “You alright?” he asked him. Scorpius nodded. “We don’t have to do it, if you don’t want? I don’t mind riding it alone.” But Scorpius forced himself to smile.

“No. I want to do it,” he said, a small lie. “I want to do it with you,” but the whole truth. A moment passed between the two of them, Albus looked back down to where the ride was loading. Scorpius blamed his heart being weird this time on the mixture of nerves and excitement he was feeling about the ride.

Once they were strapped in, Albus put his hand out between the two of them. Scorpius took it gladly.

Scorpius loved it, again. Although he did feel slightly ill. “Let’s do a gentler one this time.” He said to Albus as they walked back out into the sun. The temperature was beginning to creep up. Scorpius pulled out the map he had picked up earlier. “Ooh, I know!” he lead Albus to Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters. “If I win,” Scorpius said as they walked into the queue, “you have to buy me whatever treat I want!” he said grinning at Albus.

“And if I win?”

“As if that’ll happen,” Scorpius scoffed, his competitive side coming out. “But, I suppose —”

“You have to come on Tower of Terror.” That was the one ride Scorpius had claimed that he wouldn’t go on.

“It’s not even called Tower of Terror anymore, Albus.” But Albus ignored him, thrusting his hand out.

“Do we have a deal?” Scorpius considered it. He was pretty confident in his skills.

“You’re on.” They shook, and climbed into their little ride vehicle. The aim of the ride was to shoot at these tiny little targets, for reasons probably explained in the queue but Scorpius had been too caught up in his bet with Albus to pay much attention to them. They went round the course, elbowing each other and attempting to distract the whole way round. By the time it ended Scorpius was feeling pretty smug with his score. 131,170. He looked over to Albus.

“What?!” Scorpius stared, gobsmacked as the number 585,400 blinked back at him. “How did you do that?”

“I’m clearly a superior Astro Blaster.” Albus turned to the scoreboard. “Yep, I’m a Level 5, Space Ace. You’re a meagre Planetary Pilot.” He was grinning far to smugly. Scorpius playfully shoved him. “That means you have to come on Tower of Terror.” Albus said as they walked back out into the sun.

Scorpius rolled his eyes, “at least call it by the right name.” Albus was ignoring at him, getting up something on his phone.

“And look,” he said, waving it in front of him, “we won’t even have to wait. I went ahead and got us both a fastpass anyway.” They traipsed back across the park.

“You would have dragged me on this no matter what, wouldn’t you?” Scorpius asked as they waited in the significantly shorter queue. Albus turned to him.

“Probably.” He said sheepishly. The once classic ride was now themed to Guardians of the Galaxy. Scorpius had to admit, the queue and the pre-show was pretty impressive.

Scorpius grew nervous as they were strapped into their seats. Without thinking, both of them laced their hands together. “Oh god,” he murmured under his breath just as it dropped. For the first half of the ride, Scorpius couldn’t think of a single reason why anyone would like this sort of thing. His stomach felt like it had been left about 30 feet above him, and his heart was just barely keeping up with being pulled up and down. But then he got overwhelmed by the big screens and the action happening in front of him and actually started to enjoy it a little.

He was never going on it again, though. “You definitely owe me a Rice Krispie treat now,” he said to Albus as soon as they escaped back into the sunshine, “and the biggest one at that." Albus chuckled and nodded, and they headed back to Main Street to check out what they had to offer.

Scorpius got a message from Teddy as they wandered back, they had only just got into the parks. “Amateurs,” Albus said, shaking his head. They arranged to meet at the sweets section in the Emporium.

Teddy was easy enough to spot. He was wearing bright pink Mickey ears that some how didn’t clash with his turquoise hair. Victoire looked lovely as ever, wearing the classic black Minnie ears with the red bow. Rose was with them too, wearing a Mickey Mouse club top tied into a knot at the front, her hair up in space buns, a few curls bursting out. Scorpius looped his arm through Albus’ as they said hello and then immediately pulled Albus towards the sweets. He was tempted by the Make-Your-Own section, but in the end decided to go with a classic Mickey shaped treat that was dipped in chocolate and then covered in M’n’Ms. Scorpius was never going to actually make Albus pay, but as they got to the till, he swiped his card before Scorpius had even got his out.

Teddy and Victoire went and got ice creams, and Rose and Albus both got candy apples. Albus went for one decorated to look like a Pumpkin, whilst Rose just got a classic toffee. They found a table outside and sat for a while, people watching and admiring the view.

Scorpius, however, admired Albus’ chocolate apple which Albus promptly noticed. “You want to try some of this, don’t you?” Albus asked. Scorpius nodded sheepishly. Albus shook his head, but offered it to him. “I don’t know how your body copes with all the sugar you pump into it daily.”

“I take great care of my body,” Scorpius said, winking. Albus blushed.

“Keep it PG, boys,” Teddy said with a mouthful of ice cream.

“Yeah, and not just for the sake of the kids,” Rose muttered, she was scrolling through her phone. “Oh my god.” She said, clicking on a link. “You guys are trending!” Rose thrust her phone underneath them, and sure enough they were all over twitter.

@PotterFansss: _OMG Cannot believe I am standing meters away from #SnowBaz themselves! #SimonSnow #Scorbus. _It was accompanied by a photo of them in the queue for Buzz Lightyear.

@DisneyFreak: _Saw @alpotts and @ScorpiusMalfoy at Disneyland today…They’re so cute!_ A shaky photo of them by the castle went with that tweet.

@MalfoyPotter_: #Scorbus are so cute! Might actually go see #EighthDance now…_

Scorpius looked at Albus, raising his eyebrows. _It’s working_, he tried to communicate. Albus nodded. 

“Is there anything about me in there?” Teddy asked, and the whole table laughed. Scorpius was relieved to see that the smile lingered on Albus’ face. He seemed happy, pleased that the mess that they had gotten themselves into was doing some good. After eating their treats and scrolling through twitter a bit more, (“aha!” Teddy shouted once,” @SimonInTheSnow says ’just spotted @V.Delacour and her boyfriend at Disneyland, #CoupleGoals!” to which Victoire responded “Teddy, they didn’t even use your name,” and he just shrugged, evidently thrilled with his little bit of fame), the five of them just wandered around the park for a while, taking it all in. They watched a couple of the shows that went on around the place, and got photos with some of the characters.

Scorpius was thrilled when he saw that the wait time for Rapunzel was only 15 minutes, and they all got photos with her and then Cinderella and Tiana too.

“We’re sort of like them, you know,” Albus whispered in Scorpius’ ear as they left the meeting spot.

“What do you mean?” Scorpius asked, confused.

“You know. Pretending to be something we’re not.”

“Albus! Quiet!”

“What? They’re miles away,” Albus said, pointing at over in the distance where Teddy was forcing Rose and Victoire to take ‘magic shots’ with him.

“Not them. The kids!” Scorpius said, gesturing to the many tiny bodies around them. “It’s all real for them.” He tried not to think about the fact that Albus had to remind him that it was all fake.

The rest of the day they spent going on the slower rides, Scorpius in particular loved It’s A Small World and spent the rest of the day humming it under his breath. Albus, Rose, and Teddy wanted to go on the Guardians ride again, so Victoire and Scorpius decided to go on the carousel.

“Can you keep a secret?” Victoire asked Scorpius whilst they were waiting for their go. Victoire and Scorpius weren’t actually all that close, considering how close Scorpius was with Teddy. Even when Baz and Agatha had a small fling in movie six and they shot most of their scenes together their relationship had never really moved on from two people who worked together. They were both rather private people, needing Teddy and Albus to bring them out of their shells. But Victoire had always been nice to Scorpius, never called him a nickname. Probably because she was just slightly older than all the rest of the cast. Victoire looked over her shoulder, plaiting and un-plaiting a small section of her hair.

Scorpius nodded. “Of course.”

“I’m going to propose to Teddy this evening.” She said, her voice hushed but excited, her smile reaching her bright blue eyes.

Scorpius gasped. “Oh my gosh!” he grabbed Victoire’s hands. “Victoire that is so exciting!” Scorpius felt like he might cry. “When are you going to do it? How? Have you got a ring?” Scorpius rung off a few hundred more questions before Victoire could finally answer.

“When Ted was sleeping,” she said, giving his nickname a nickname, “I rang down to the park to see what they did for proposals. I think my name helped,” the Delacour family was pretty famous in France, and it seemed it stretched across the world too, “because they’ve organised for our own little viewing section for the fireworks tonight. You are invited to come of course, I need you all there to take pictures!” Scorpius was thrilled for her, for the both of them. His mind took him back to when they first started dating.

Teddy had just been a make-up assistant at the time, but he had developed a reputation for being the best artist on set. He was funny, too, and intensely kind. When him and Victoire had met, well Scorpius always said he knew instantly that they were meant to be. He could tell Teddy was charmed by her, his unending confidence faltered when she walked into the trailer. All he wanted was to please her. And even though she was a bit harder to read, she always smiled that little bit wider when he was around. And it was only really Teddy who could make her properly laugh. They quickly developed the habit of finishing each others sentences, even when they fought, and finding a way to sit comfortably together when there was technically only space for one person. They were perfect together.

Scorpius couldn’t stop smiling as they rode the carousel. Neither could Victoire. They caught each others eyes a couple times, bursting into excited giggles when they did so. It was a pretty wonderful day, all in all.

They met back up with the others afterwards, Scorpius could barely look at Teddy out of fear that he would just blurt it out in front of him.

They went on a few more rides. Scorpius laughed too much at the bad jokes on Jungle Cruise, burying his head into Albus’ neck to conceal giggles when no one else was laughing, and scared himself silly on Haunted Mansion, clutching Albus’ arm, pressing their bodies together. Scorpius got a new thrill every time they touched, and felt slightly empty when they weren’t. Every time Albus smiled up at him his heart did a new little jump. Scorpius was too happy to try and think about what all this might mean.

Eventually the sun began to set and they walked back over to the castle. Victoire explained about the special viewing area they had for the fireworks that evening. Albus yawned as they walked. “Do we have to stay?” He whispered close to Scorpius’ ear. His voice was husky, and Scorpius looked down into Albus’ eyes. “Let’s go back to the hotel.” Scorpius shivered despite the warm evening air. But he shook his head.

“We have to stay.” He said. He smiled, “trust me, Albus.”

* * *

Albus did. Of course he did. Albus had trusted Scorpius from the moment they had met.

He couldn’t be sure Scorpius was beginning to feel the same way he did, but they had been alone almost all day, and Scorpius hadn’t once let go of his hand or arm. Their bodies had been pressed together on rides even when there was plenty of room. Maybe it was just the fact that they were in Disneyland that Albus was filled with so much hope, but from the look in Scorpius’ eyes when he had asked if they could go back, Albus was almost sure.

Albus’ heart skip a beat as he let himself think it. _Scorpius likes me_.

* * *

Scorpius couldn’t quite believe it, but Disneyland managed to get even prettier once the sun had set. All the shops glowed gold, and the castle lit up magnificently, shifting between pink and blue and purple. About 5 minutes before the fireworks were scheduled to start, Victoire shot Scorpius a look. Scorpius’ heart started beating so fast he was sure Albus could feel it as he stood next to him. He got out his phone, ready to film the whole thing. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed the same photographer at the edge of their viewing spot that had taken photos of him and Albus earlier in the day.

“Edward,” Victoire said to Teddy, calling him by his full name, taking his hand in hers. Scorpius pressed start on his phone, and somehow Rose did what she always managed to do and figured out exactly what was going on, because she gasped, her hands flying to her face.

“Yes, darling,” Teddy said, brows furrowed from the use of his full name as he turned around to face his girlfriend. Victoire knelt down. Teddy stood, stunned. Albus linked his arm through Scorpius’. They shot each other a quick smile.

“Edward Remus Teddy Lupin.” Victoire said. Teddy looked like he was about to cry. “Will you marry me?” For a second he didn’t say a word. They all held their breath. A single firework shot up into the sky. 

“Yes! Yes! Of course yes!” With perfect timing, the entire show began, the sky brightening with beautiful colours and their surroundings filled with glittering music. Instead of pulling her up to meet him, he knelt down on the ground at her level and pulled her into a kiss. The photographer started taking photos. They broke apart, standing up together. Victoire took Teddy’s hand in her own, placing the simple engagement ring on his hand. “I can’t believe you bought me a ring.” Teddy said. “That’s supposed to be my job,” he was crying now. But Scorpius could tell he was over the moon.

“You know I don’t follow the rules.” Victoire said in response. “But if you wanted to get me one…” She smiled. A look formed on Teddy’s face, eyebrows raised.

“It’s funny you say that…” he trailed off.

“Oh my god,” Scorpius said under his breath.

“What?” Albus asked him.

“Oh my god!” Rose echoed. She had caught what Teddy’s look meant as well. A smile on his face, Teddy got down on one knee.

“If Scorpius had told me about his plan to come here any earlier than last night,” Teddy said, holding a ring box out in front of him, “I would have been more prepared.”

“Sorry!” Scorpius interjected. Teddy nodded at him, apology accepted. 

“Victoire Delacour,” Teddy said, the biggest grin on his face, “will you marry me?”

“Yes!” Victoire said, and she pulled him up into another kiss. Teddy put the ring on her finger, and they turned, arms around each other, to watch the rest of the show. Scorpius pressed end on his phone, sliding it into his pocket. He didn’t notice until then, but he was crying. Needing something to hold onto, he slipped his hand into Albus’ for what felt like the millionth time that day.

He never wanted to let go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! More coming soon!


	8. Backwards

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The glow of Disneyland fades into the background as Albus and Scorpius drive back to their hotel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short update, I know, but more is coming. 
> 
> (also, apologies in advance)

The lights flickered back on over Disneyland, and the crowd began to heave its way backwards. People moved slowly, craning their necks to get one last look at the golden glow that lingered around them. In the safety of their bubble, the five of them just watched as people left, waiting for the crowds to thin before making their own way to their temporary home.

Scorpius couldn’t take his eyes off Teddy and Victoire. Their faces were bright, hands clasped tightly together. They were whispering to each other and giggling, each of them in awe of the other. Scorpius didn’t want to intrude, so he pulled himself and Albus away from them.

He didn’t really know what to say to Albus anymore. All his thoughts and feelings were swirling around his mind, and they all seemed too bright and intense and _real_ to form into sentences. 

Albus asking to go back to the hotel lingered at the forefront of his mind. But with the excitement of the evening over, Scorpius began to understand it as it was probably meant to be understood. That Albus was tired, and that he wanted to go back and go to sleep. Nothing else. His eyes flickered over to Albus’ face then. Green eyes gazing upwards at the castle, and his face concerned. He yawned, his forehead scrunching in the adorable way that did (although Scorpius realised that this was the first time he’d noticed that it was _adorable_). An almost awkward silence settled over the two of them as they eventually made their way back and called a couple taxis to get them all back to their hotel. Rose was with them, so their hands stayed intertwined even though they she sat in the front seat. But Scorpius just looked out the window at the lights of LA.

* * *

Scorpius didn’t say anything to him in the car journey back to the hotel. Albus’ heart fell with every second that he stayed silent, and he retreated back into himself, far too afraid to say anything himself. Without the magic and glitter and unbridled joy surrounding them, he felt less confident that all the signs he had been reading were accurate.

They were together, and they were alone, except for Rose sat in the front, and Scorpius was staring out of the window not saying a word.

Rose got out the car but didn’t go into the hotel straight away. “Could I have a word with my cousin, Scorpius?” She asked as the car pulled away. Scorpius looked to Albus, the first bit of eye contact they had made in a while. Albus nodded.

“I’ll see you inside.” Scorpius said, clutching the bag of goodies they had bought in one hand, letting Albus’ hand go with the other. Albus instantly missed the contact. When they were alone, Rose raised her eyebrows.

“You two have been oddly quiet for the rest of this evening.” She said, not really asking a question but her tone accusatory all the same. Albus used to take everything she said as an insult, but now he had learnt that was just how Rose spoke most of the time. He no longer took it to heart. Him and his cousin would never be as close as they were when they were six, but they had made progress since their falling out when they were teenagers.

Scorpius had unintentionally caused that conflict. Albus had been jealous of how obsessed he was with Rose, and had taken it out on her. It was dumb, because Rose, at the time, had been doing everything she could to stop Scorpius’ advances. But Scorpius was smitten, head over heels. And Albus couldn’t complain about it to him, out of fear that Scorpius would work out exactly why he was so jealous. So instead he got more and more mad at his cousin, pretending to be civil on set and in front of the grown-ups, but nagging and nitpicking and just generally being awful every time they were alone.

Then Rose had yelled at him, and Albus had yelled at Scorpius, and then Albus promised and tried to be nicer. And for the most part he had. And then when, despite her best intentions, Rose had actually fallen for Scorpius slightly and they started dating, Albus truly hadn’t been that mad. By that point he had resigned himself to the fact that him and Scorpius were doomed to be nothing more than best friends.

The realisation that Rose had got the real thing with Scorpius and that he never would hit Albus then. He wasn't jealous of Rose, just sad. And tired. In the quiet and the exhaustion of the day, Albus found himself desperate to tell someone the truth. And Rose was the closest person, and luckily the best. Except maybe for Lily and his mother, but they were both an ocean away. “I need to tell you something, Rose.” Albus said, looking over his shoulder making sure that nobody was around to overhear. “Me and Scorpius we’re--”

“Not really dating?” She interrupted. Albus nodded. He wasn’t surprised at all that she had figured it out.

“How did you know?”

“When Scorpius isn’t looking at you, you look so sad.” She said, reaching out to put her hand on his shoulder. They were the exact same height. It was about the only thing they had in common. “I know how much you like him, Albus. Even if you always refused to tell me.” She sighed. “I didn’t know what was going on exactly, but I knew something wasn’t right. If Scorpius knew how you felt, and if Scorpius felt the same way, there’s no way you’d be looking like your heart was breaking every time something else that sparkled caught his eye.” It was a disastrously good observation by Rose, and now Albus began worrying that he was going to bring their whole plan down because he couldn’t keep a fake smile plastered on his face. “I don’t think anyone else has noticed, though.” Rose said in an attempt to comfort his worrying, “I’m just very observant.” They stood in silence for a while, but then, just as Albus was going to head back inside, Rose said, “did Delphi put you up to this?”

Albus knew Rose didn’t particularly like Delphi. She would always say that something about her made alarm bells ring in her brain. She was ditching her as soon as her role as Penelope Bunce was over with. Albus had caught her emailing various talent agencies. “Not really, I mean,” he sighed, “it was technically her idea, but I don’t think she ever actually expected us to go through with it.”

“Albus,” Rose said, voice concerned, “if you two get in trouble because of her,” Albus bristled, finding himself get defensive of Delphi.

“It’s not her fault, okay?” He said louder than he meant. “It was my dumb idea, and now I have to live with the consequences.”

“You can put a stop to it, you know? You don’t have to suffer through it anymore.”

Albus thought to how Scorpius had acted today. How after he realised that people were looking at them, tweeting about them and the movie, expecting certain things from them, he had turned the dial up to one hundred. How he had pressed his body against Albus’, laced their fingers together, kept close to him all day. Albus was selfish, and he didn’t want to lose it.

Everything was messed up in his head, he didn’t want to lose the new relationship he had with Scorpius, but he desperately wanted it to be real and he knew the second he told Scorpius how he really felt he would run a mile. He desperately wanted it to mean as much to Scorpius as it did to him, but it never would.

“It’s only for the next two weeks,” Albus eventually said, “we’ll drop it as soon as the London press is done.” Albus turned away from Rose. He could hear her sigh, but he just kept walking.

* * *

Scorpius was worried about what Rose was talking to Albus about. His mind presumed the worst, that she had figured it out and everyone else had too, which meant it was only a matter of time until the media did. They'd be exposed and cancelled and never work again. 

Needing a distraction, he set about organising all the things him and Albus had bought at Disneyland. He pulled his Mickey ears off his head, scratching behind his ears and ruffling his hair where it had been pressed down. 

Next, he got out the presents he had bought for his parents. A set of glittery Christmas baubles for his mum. Christmas was Astoria’s favourite time of year, and Malfoy Manor seemed to get brighter every year as the trinkets and lights increased in number. It was their tradition to get a new decoration together during the first weekend of Christmas, but Scorpius thought this time around he’d get a head start. It wasn't every day he'd get to buy decorations from Disneyland itself. They were delicate little things, one in the shape of Mickey, with a big silver bauble and two smaller glittery ones as the ears. The others each clear filled with fake snow that swirled around as you shook it, etched with silver sparkles that read _Merry Christmas_.

For his dad he had bought a set of cufflinks, small and silver. You wouldn’t even know they were Disney-themed unless you got up close to them. Tiny rectangles with the castle faintly carved into them. He hoped his dad would approve. He wrapped them up in a t-shirt he wouldn’t be wearing now (putting the too-many-outfits he had brought with him to good use), putting them safely in his suitcase.

He turned around as he heard Albus open the door. He was suddenly extremely nervous about what he was going to say.

“Hey,” Scorpius said as Albus closed the door. He looked exhausted, holding his goofy hat in his hands and fiddling with it as he did when he was nervous. Scorpius wanted to scoop him up into a hug. But he didn't. Albus sat on the bed.

“Rose knows.” He said, voice high-pitched and with fake shock. Scorpius nodded.

“I figured she might.” He sighed, “and the others?”

“She doesn’t think so. Teddy and Victoire will both be too distracted with each other now to pay attention to us.”

“Yeah, they’re doing our job for us now.” Scorpius said, chuckling. Albus looked up.

“Do you want to stop?” He asked. He looked so tired, and there was something in his eyes that Scorpius couldn’t figure out. But Scorpius knew that he didn’t. He wanted to keep holding Albus’ hand and whispering in his ear and posing for pictures together. He didn’t want to lose him, but didn’t want to force Albus to do something he was uncomfortable with.

“I don’t want to stop, per se. And SnowBaz will always generate more tweets than Agatha, sadly.” Scorpius said. It was true. People didn’t like Agatha that much. She came across badly, despite Victoire’s best efforts. She was always thing in between Simon and Baz. “But if you want to quit, now is probably the best time…”

“No, I don’t want to.” Scorpius was shocked to see Albus say it so determinedly, but he knew it was just because that was the type of person Albus was. He saw things through right to the end, even if the end was disaster.

So they nodded at each other.

They settled back into their silence and when they got back into the bed it felt like there was miles between them. Scorpius remembered that morning, when they had woken up intertwined. He desperately wanted to crawl back into Albus' arms, and be held by him. 

Scorpius let himself think it then. It was heartbreaking, and it was true, and nothing could ever come of it, but he thought it all the same. 

_I'm falling in love with Albus Potter_. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, probably wasn't what was expected after that last chapter. But the real world never feels as good once you leave disney, and the world is coming crashing back down around Albus and Scorpius. 
> 
> Thank you for reading, I'm sorry it's a tiny one, and I know I say this every time, but exciting things are coming!


	9. New York

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Albus and Scorpius arrive in New York

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DISCLAIMER: Some of you have probably already noticed this, if you have read Fangirl or Carry On, but I've done something really dumb. It is now canon in this fic that Albus and Victoire are not related in anyway, because if they were and they were playing people who date in a movie that would be weird. I'm sorry if this makes anyone uncomfortable, I am truly an idiot and I don't think things through properly and it was only until writing this chapter that I noticed this blaring plot hole. 
> 
> Nethertheless, I hope you enjoy this chapter, we're getting close to the end now and hopefully it will be all wrapped up before the start of 2020! Thanks to everyone for your continued support!

Albus loved New York. It reminded him of London, of home, but more intense. More to do. More to see. The buildings were higher and he felt dwarfed by them, but that didn’t put him off. If anything he loved the place more for it. No matter how far you craned your neck, there was always more.

Rose had been nothing but a comfort to him, really.He had been nervous about what she might do now that she knew the secret. But there was no need for Albus to have ever doubted her. She would never do something that would put him and Scorpius in any sort of danger. She wouldn’t spill this secret.

She shot him glances on the plane from LAX to JFK, checking up on him, particularly when Teddy started going on about going on matching dates in New York. Rose had jumped in then, saying that there was no way she'd be left on her own whilst everyone was being all couple-y and loved up, and then steered the conversation somewhere else. She hadn’t pushed him about Delphi either, although she did continue to look at her critically. That would have happened no matter what though.

Albus and Scorpius had decided not to tell Delphi that Rose knew. It would only stress their already extremely stressed agent out more, but it did mean that the whole thing was getting thoroughly confusing.

On the whole, him and Scorpius had been quieter. Disneyland seemed to have drained them both, and they had gone through the next round of interviews a bit dulled. They still held hands, and Scorpius would still kiss him on the cheek every now and again, but on the whole it wasn’t as exciting as it had been for those first few days. Albus could tell it felt like a job to Scorpius. The role of his boyfriend growing just as dull as Baz had become to him.

They were in their own taxi from JFK into central Manhattan, and Albus was sat with his head resting against the window. His eyes couldn’t stop flicking from one corner to the next. He was itching to get amongst it all.

Eventually they reached their hotel. Scorpius collapsed on the bed when they got into their room.

“I’m going to go explore, wanna come?” Albus asked, echoing Scorpius’ question from when they had first arrived in LA. Scorpius sat up, looked out the window, and then at the clock. And then he fell back amongst the pillows.

“I think I’m just going to get some rest, actually.” He said guiltily.

“That’s cool.” Albus said, finding himself okay with the fact Scorpius didn’t want to come with him. He needed some time completely to himself. “I need to get out, stretch my legs.” Albus said. Scorpius nodded, already falling asleep. Albus grabbed his room key from the table and dashed out.

The rain fell on his face as he stepped out of the lobby. Albus looked up, embracing it. Another thing he loved about New York. The weather. It would burn in summer, pour in autumn, freeze in winter and melt in spring. It did everything properly. He made his way straight to Times Square, quickly looking up directions on his phone but mostly just making his way there on instinct.

As he walked, he revelled in the anonymity of a New York crowd. With his dark coat on and hood up, nobody would ever know who he was.

Despite searching desperately for distraction, his mind took him back to Scorpius. How Scorpius had never been the one to flinch away from a look before, but the amount of times they’d caught each others eye recently and his grey eyes had flicked away from Albus’ green ones made him nervous. He was just counting down the seconds until he could be free, Albus was certain.

Albus knew Scorpius, he knew that he would let himself suffer if he thought it was doing good. And it was doing good. Photographers had trailed them through LA after they’d been spotted in Disney, documenting their love story. A few had picked up on Victoire and Teddy, too. But Victoire didn’t want the press to hound them every second of their engagement, so she’d been making much better efforts to conceal herself and Teddy than Scorpius and Albus did.

The amount of things the press managed to make up, and get wrong, was astounding. How they had been dating since they were eleven. How Delphi was somehow involved. There had been one tiny article about how it didn’t seem quite right, and it had made both him and Scorpius nervous when they had spotted it. Delphi had told them to brush it aside, it was from a tiny magazine and every celebrity couple went through the same scrutiny. It didn’t matter in the end because the Simon Snow fandom was rising from the dead, and #Snowbaz was always followed by #Scorbus.

Albus reached Times Square. He stood in the middle of it, head up, imagining a camera circling around him as he stared at all the signs and logos and adverts. He was going to live here one day, he could feel it.

He went down to Broadway after snapping a couple photos, passing the Richard Rodgers Theatre and the Lyric and admiring all the various marquees. Rumours were currently swirling that Gemma T. Leslie was being approached to write some sort of Simon Snow play, although the likelihood of that fate coming to pass was small. Unless this movie somehow skyrocketed past all predicted numbers.

The rain started to pick up, growing too heavy for even Albus to enjoy, and he started making his way back to his hotel.

Scorpius was still asleep when he got back. Albus stood dripping in the doorway, not wanting to wake him. His stomach rumbled, and he realised he hadn’t eaten all day.

He desperately wanted to wake Scorpius. To order room service and make jokes and fall asleep on top of each other. Get back to normal. Back to friends.

But he didn’t. He quickly changed into drier clothes in the bathroom, messaged Rose and met her down in the lobby to grab dinner in the restaurant.

* * *

Scorpius slept until his stomach woke him up. He faintly registered that it was also the hotel room door shutting that roused him, but the rumbling in his stomach was much stronger. He noticed Albus’ clothes on the chair opposite the bed and called out, thinking that maybe he was in the bathroom. When he was met with silence he presumed he had gone off somewhere again.

He checked his phone with the intention of looking up what restaurant was closest to them, but his fingers on instinct took him to Instagram. He checked through his stories, bored.

Rose had posted one of her dinner on her private story, tagging the restaurant in the hotel and her cousin.

Scorpius tried not to feel too hurt that Albus was eating without him. It wasn’t a complete break from tradition. They had gotten fast food on that first day in LA. Scorpius just assumed, that because it was New York, and New York was the place they had first gotten take out together. He blamed himself, wishing he had woken up just a moment earlier. He considered going down to the restaurant and joining Albus and Rose, but he didn’t want to interrupt their meal.

He was still moping about and half-heartedly looking through the hotel’s menu when Albus eventually came back up to their room.

“You’re awake,” he said when he entered, an easy grin on his face. Scorpius’ mood instantly lifted. Albus was happy. It felt like it had been a while since Scorpius could say that with confidence.

“I’m awake.” Scorpius responded. Albus clocked the menu in his hands.

“D’you wanna order cake?”

* * *

Scorpius was half dozing off once the slices of cake were demolished, and Albus felt like it was safe for him to get out his sketch book. He hadn’t touched it the entire trip, out of fear of Scorpius seeing it. Their pleasant chats had him itching to draw again. And Scorpius looked great against the New York skyline.

Scorpius’ face filled up too many of the pages of Albus’ sketchbooks. When he was waiting on set to film, he would draw everything in sight. And the thing in front of him was usually Scorpius. He had Scorpius with Baz’s wig on, without it. In three-piece floral suits and in ripped, blood-stained, shirts.

He had never drawn Scorpius sleeping, though. He thought it might be a little weird, but the bright lights from the neon signs outside their hotel looked pretty against his white hair, and even though he didn’t have the tools to bring it to life in full colour, he sketched out what he could.

Eventually Albus’ eyes grew heavy and his hand grew lazy, so he shoved the sketchbook onto the bedside table and pulled himself under the covers.

Scorpius was sleeping nearly in the middle of the bed. It was impossible not to be close to him. Albus was sad that this was as close they’d ever be, but happy with the warmth all the same.

* * *

They had to be up way before the sun that day. They were going on Good Morning America, and therefore needed to already look presentable whilst most people across the country were in the process of making themselves look presentable. Luckily it had stopped raining, and they woke up to a crisp blue sky.

There was a slight chill in the air, so Scorpius pulled on a long sleeved light green shirt and trousers, shaking out his hair in the hotel room mirror.

Him and Albus had a better night. They talked about nothing for the first time in ages. Chatting about music, about movies that weren’t theirs, and what Albus wanted to do whilst they were in New York.

“Definitely the MoMA,” he had said, eyes wide. “But I don’t mind going on my own, I know it can be kind of boring.”

“Don’t be silly,” Scorpius had responded, “Of course I’ll come with you.”

He also wanted to do the traditional sightseeing, Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Central Park. Scorpius agreed to let Albus drag him around the length and breadth of New York. They were all going to see _Dear Evan Hansen_, too, at Victoire’s request.

Scorpius had fallen asleep first, but he had woken up a few minutes later when Albus’ weight shifted. Albus didn’t notice. He had his glasses on, which was a sight Scorpius rarely saw, they were classic thick-rimmed square ones, which Scorpius knew he had bought so he wouldn’t look like the mirror image of his father with his trademark circular ones. His sketchbook was rested against his knees, and his forehead was scrunched in concentration. Albus never realised he had woken up, too busy looking at what he was drawing. From where he was laying Scorpius could just about see what it was, and it took all his effort not to gasp when he realised it was him.

Not wanting to ruin the moment, he had let his eyes fall shut again, but he couldn’t keep a faint smile from his lips as he fell asleep.

In the mirror, he could see the sketchbook resting on the bedside table. He knew it would be a horrific breach of trust, and he would never do it, but Scorpius desperately wanted to flick through and see if that was the first time Albus had ever drawn him. But then Albus emerged from the bathroom, dressed in a nice shirt and jeans and all thoughts of the sketchbook flew from Scorpius’ mind.

He supposed he had always known Albus was attractive, but this trip had attuned him to just how beautiful Albus Potter really was. His dark brown hair always stuck up just so, seeming perfect from the second he rolled out of bed, and despite his short frame he didn’t have a bad figure either. The training for the fight scenes as Simon meant that he had always been slightly muscular, although he was loosing some of the definition now it had been so long since he’d filmed one. He had to drag his eyes away to stop Albus from noticing that he was staring, his attention going back to smoothing down his own hair.

* * *

Their appearance on Good Morning America was mainly to premiere the first trailer for _Simon Snow and the Eighth Dance_, but they were briefed before hand that they would discuss just some general things first.

“Mostly your recent day out in Disneyland,” an assistant told them as they waited in the greenroom. “Victoire, expect some questions about Edward,” Albus did a double take, it wasn’t very often he heard Teddy called by his first name. “And your double proposals.” She turned to Albus and Scorpius, “and you two about the fact that you trended whilst you were there.” They nodded. “And then of course there’s the questions we sent over for the movie.” She looked to Rose, “You’ll be handling most of those, I’ve been told.”

Rose nodded, sure of herself. Rose had always been the best in interviews. Followed by Scorpius and then Albus and Victoire who were both sort of hopeless at promotion. They were left alone, and the TV in the corner of the room was turned up so they could all watch the trailer together. It was being premiered before their interview, so they’d show it and then have a grand dramatic entrance.

Albus’, or rather Simon’s, face filled up the screen and Albus almost looked away. It never really got any easier, watching himself like that. But Albus supposed he had gotten used to it.

The weirdest thing was seeing himself young again as the Insidious Humdrum. It had meant a lot of the time he had to film scenes twice, once as Simon and then again as the Humdrum, but covered in dots that somehow, through the magic of technology, would transform his face into what it looked like 11 years ago. And then Baz, Scorpius, flicked up onto the screen, looking as suave and insidious as ever. And then Rose as Penny, holding her own without any magic in a Dead Spot. And Agatha, tragically standing alone, calling Simon’s name. Simon raises his sword, and a dragon rises up behind him. Cut to black. The screen reads, CHRISTMAS DAY.

It’s certainly ambitious, releasing a movie on Christmas Day. It seemed to Albus like it’s dooming it from the beginning.

He heard the live audience cheer pretty excitedly, and then the assistant wash ushering them out in front of the cameras, and the cheering grew louder.

Scorpius came in last. Albus always noted that he got the biggest cheer. Baz was certainly a fan favourite, and Scorpius’ hated it most of the time. He looked back at the blonde to judge his reaction. He had a polite smile on his face, blushing, giving a little wave to some of the younger kids at the front. He looked up and caught Albus’ eyes. Albus put his hand out behind him, and Scorpius took it. It earned an ‘awww’ from the audience and hosts alike as they took their seats.

“Good morning, you guys,” one of the hosts said to them as they were sat down. Her voice was warm and far-too-perky for this early in the morning, but it meant that all had to rise in enthusiasm to match her. “That was quite a trailer we just saw, really exciting stuff.”

“Thank you so much,” Rose said, “we’ve all just seen it for the first time too, and we cannot wait for everyone to see the whole thing.”

“Neither can we, can we guys?” She said out to the audience, and they cheered in response. When they died down, she carried on, “now, the final movie for the final book, I certainly can’t believe we’ve made it all the way to the end, and I’ve got to admit, it’s going to be sad not having one to look forward to each year. What was it like on set, knowing you were doing things for the very last time?”

“It was so weird,” Rose answered, “Me and Victoire were sat in hair and make up on our last shooting day together, and we both just burst into tears as they were brushing our hair,” Rose was giggling, and Victoire was rolling her eyes but smiling.

“It just suddenly hit us that we’d never share a dressing room again, and we’d done that for eleven years! That’s a long time,” Victoire added.

“It’s a good job we got on.” Rose giggled.

“It is,” the interviewer interjected, she turned to Scorpius and Albus, “I’d ask you the same question, but you two will probably carry on sharing dressing rooms of some sort I’m sure.” Albus felt himself going bright red, and he looked to Scorpius to answer.

“We probably will,” was all Scorpius said, and he swiftly brought the conversation back to _Simon Snow_, “but the moment the got to me the most was Albus’ final scene, #KeeptheSecrets of course, but you guys are going to cry your eyes out when you see it, just like I did.” That earned another round of ‘awwws’ from the audience and caused Albus to blush even more. 

“Speaking of crying,” she turned away from them, “Miss Delacour, the pictures from your engagement, just so beautiful.” Victoire blushed, and the next part of the interview was spent talking about herself and Teddy. They even cut to him sat in the audience and he gave a little wave. A touch of jealously perked up in Albus’ mind, but he tried to brush it away. It was ridiculous, how him and Scorpius had pretended to get together to get people interested, and then Victoire went and one-upped them by proposing in Disney of all places. Albus didn’t like thinking that everything they had done was slightly unnecessary, but it was moments like this when anger flared up in him and he couldn’t do much to dial it back. He fidgeted in his seat.

Scorpius shot him a look, eyebrows raised, asking if he was okay. Albus sent him a short nod back.

The interview was pretty much over after that. Albus let out a sigh of relief once they were back in the green room, happy to be done. That was the biggest interview they were doing on this side of the atlantic, and Albus was happy to have it over and done with. Nothing else would be broadcast live, so Albus didn’t have to stress about saying the right thing at the right time anymore.

“I have no idea how you’re going to do theatre,” Albus said to Scorpius knowing that they were pretty much alone.

“Huh?” He asked, not following Albus’ train of thought.

“I could never do something live all the time. There’s no way I’d say all the words in the right order.”

“Well you did just then,” Scorpius reassured him. But Albus just shrugged.

* * *

That afternoon, Scorpius and Albus had gone to the MoMA. They wandered round in pensive silence, Scorpius resisting the urge to check his phone out of fear of Albus thinking he was being extremely uncultured.

Albus was far more knowledgeable about everything around them than Scorpius for once. Art with a capital 'A' was never something Scorpius had really been that interested in, much preferring the arts that moved, like acting or music or dance. Scorpius looked at Albus more than he looked at the art. He considered everything with such concentration and understanding, sometimes excitedly bringing Scorpius over and pointing out to him something he particularly loved whispering quickly about what it meant. Half the time Scorpius didn’t really know what he was saying, but he nodded in agreement all the same.

Scorpius couldn’t fathom the amount of control and passion it would take to make half the things in this room. But he knew someone who would.

“Your art is going to hang in a place like this one day.” He said as they stepped back out into the crisp New York air.

* * *

The comment had taken Albus by surprise. They had walked around almost in silence save for Albus’ few moments of hurried whispers. So when Scorpius had spoken again once they stepped outside, his voice sounded slightly deeper than normal. And Albus had always been rubbish at accepting compliments.

He had been standing a few steps in front of Scorpius, so he spun around to face him.

“Huh?” Was just about all Albus could manage.

“I know you don’t like to talk about it, but you aren’t able to keep it completely hidden.” Scorpius said. “I’ve seen the sketchbooks dotted around your flat, and the pictures you’ve gifted my mother, the flowers in Lily’s room.” Albus remembered the time he had shown Scorpius his little sisters room, and suddenly his heart panged, missing her. “You’re an excellent artist, Albus.”

* * *

Scorpius wanted to bring up how he had caught him drawing him the other night, but couldn’t find the words. And Albus being Albus couldn’t find a response either, so the words just hung in the air, until another couple came along and asked Scorpius if he could take a picture of them in front of the museum. Scorpius passed the phone to Albus, “you’d be better off taking it. I always take rubbish photos.” It was completely true. Albus had an eye for everything, even a simple snap.Albus blushed again, taking the phone from Scorpius and took a couple pictures for the smiling couple.

The rest of their time in New York went by quickly. Scorpius bawled his eyes out at _Dear Evan Hansen_, and noticed that Albus’ eyes were slightly red too, and they had done a few more moments of typical sight seeing.

It felt weird to get into separate taxis at Gatwick airport, but they were both going back to their own apartments.

It felt even weirder to be sleeping alone again. Scorpius had gotten so used to Albus' warm presence mere inches away from him. His own bed felt far too big, and felt far too cold, and there was nothing Scorpius wanted more in that moment than to have Baz’s magic and _No Place Like Home _himself into Albus’ apartment.

* * *

Albus tossed and turned all night, and his hands kept reaching out for a body that wasn't there. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I know I say this all the time, but the next chapter is my favourite and I hope to get it up pretty soon!


	10. Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Albus and Scorpius go on a couples gameshow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's the big one, folks.

The studio lights were bright and they weren’t helping Scorpius’ nerves at all. They were finally doing their last round of press related tv shows, and this time they had ended up on the couples gameshow hosted by none other than Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter themselves. It was a celebrity edition of their show, so they were trying to win money for charity. And in order to win they had to prove that they were the best couple taking part. 

It had to be going out live, too. They were sat in the greenroom, about 10 minutes away from the show beginning. It was one of the most popular quiz shows on TV, and the celebrity editions always raked in the most viewers. Him and Albus hadn’t done anything live since Good Morning America. Everything else they’d shot so far in the UK wouldn’t be released until nearer the time of Eighth Dance’s release, so he never really stressed that much about what he was doing. But now he was going to be scrutinised by the nation. He thought back to what Albus had said to him after GMA, about how he could never do theatre. Scorpius was beginning to think the same about himself, the nerves he was feeling were excruciating. If anyone was going to try and prove that everything they had been doing together was just for show, it would be after tonight.

The good thing was, they had grown up together. Scorpius knew an awful lot about Albus, and he hoped Albus knew a significant amount about him, too.

In the morning, they spoke to the writers about some of the questions they could ask the partner during the show. A lot of the questions would be fact based that the show runners had come up with themselves, but they needed some opinion-based ones too that came directly from him and Albus. For the last round, Scorpius had to give quite specific information, and he just hoped that he was remembering correctly, and that it was Albus he had all these conversations with. He certainly couldn’t think of anyone else he had such deep chats with.

They had then spent the afternoon in rehearsals, not answering any questions but just going over the blocking and what they had to do in each round. Scorpius tried to have fun, tried not to let his father or anyone catch on to the fact that him and Albus were faking the entire thing. He knew most of the crew weren’t actually concentrated on what they were saying, just that their words were being picked up by the microphones, that the lights came on at the correct times, and they were looking down the correct camera lenses. And even though he was used to all these eyes on him, having grown up on film sets, being on a couples quiz show felt like it was designed to catch them out.

His father had been shooting him confused looks all night, and Harry Potter just thought the whole thing was hilarious. He hadn’t really spoken to his father all that much since he’d started ‘dating’ Albus, he’d been so busy with the press tour he had barely seen either of his parents. He knew his mother would be in the audience tonight, too. Along with the entire Potter-Granger-Weasley extended family. He turned his attention to the other couples instead. Teddy and Victoire had been invited on, and Teddy enthusiastically said yes, until he saw Victoire’s face, and then he immediately decided against it.Also taking part, though, was Cassia Skeeter, daughter of the reporter who had tormented Albus’ father years ago, and her husband Copper. Copper seemed nice enough, but Cassia presented as the mirror image of her mother. She had already asked Scorpius too many questions in the green room, and he even noticed that her phone was recording. Although she had bluffed and said that had been entirely accidental. He made sure to give very short answers after that, and tried not to ever be alone with her.

There was also Asher Button, who played for the Holyhead Harpies, and her girlfriend Renee Griffin. But the other reason why the entire Potter clan had shown up was because Rose Granger-Weasley and Polly Chapman were there.

“Did you know?” Scorpius had asked Albus when they’d arrived early that afternoon.

“Nope.” He’d shook his head. Scorpius didn’t know whether Albus was answering that he didn't know they were dating; that he didn't know they were coming; or even that he didn't know that either of them were gay. From the look on his face it was all three. Scorpius suddenly felt bad for Rose, they had all been so caught up at first with him and Albus, and then Teddy and Victoire, that he never even thought to talk to Rose about her own life. He thought back to how she had always steered the conversation away from couple-related topics, and Scorpius had just assumed at first it was because she was sick of the four of them, and then that she was helping out him and Albus. Now Scorpius wondered whether it was actually because she was missing Polly. It made Scorpius' heart ache just to think about it, and he was determined to corner the both of them once this whole malarky was done with. Before the show, though, neither of them really had time to ask them about it either, once they had gone through the rehearsals of each different round with each of the couples, they had been brought into hair and make up.

Scorpius was put in a slightly sparkly silver shirt and black skinny jeans, and his white hair was tousled just-so. Albus was wearing a slim-fitting green jumper and his dark curly hair was ruffled up and bouncy. He looked really, really good. _Not now_, Scorpius thought to himself, _I cannot be distracted by how cute Albus is tonight_.

They didn’t even have time to talk before members of the crew whizzed them out onto their podium. The afternoon had gone entirely too quickly, Scorpius did not feel like he had enough time to prepare and suddenly Harry Potter was introducing them.

“Now, even I have to admit,” Harry said with easy charm, “this last couple is probably going to be a little bit awkward to introduce.”

“Now, Potter, why on earth would that be?” His dad said with his perfect Malfoy sarcasm.

“Well, that would be because one of them is your son.” The lights flicked on above Scorpius. He smiled. The audience clapped. “And the other is mine.” The lights came up above Albus and the audience cheered when he waved. Scorpius could make out Ginny and Lily’s whoops the loudest. He looked past the lights and into the audience, thrilled to see that his own mother was sat at Ginny’s side, clapping and cheering along.

They whizzed into the first round.

“Now. For this round our couples will just have to answer some easy questions.” Harry started. “All the answers are pretty well known facts, that you at home can google.”

“So if you get any of these wrong, you should probably have a serious conversation after the show.” Draco finished. “And if we get any of them wrong…”

Harry finished his sentence, “tweet at Malfoy. Not me.”

Asher and Renee went first, and they did pretty well. Cassia and Copper, not so much. She was clearly angry and trying to hide it, and Copper frankly looked terrified. Rose and Polly quickly climbed into the lead. Scorpius was astounded at how something like this had developed without him knowing. But he didn’t even have time to be dumbfounded because quickly it was Albus and Scorpius’ turn.

“Okay, Scorpius, easy first one,” Harry turned to Scorpius. “When is Albus’ birthday?”

“23rd of March.” Scorpius answered confidently.

“Correct!”

“Now, Albus,” Draco said, stood at Albus’ side. “What is Scorpius’ favourite colour.”

“Well, there’s two actually.” Albus answered. Scorpius blushed, he was right, so far, “but, the one you can find on the internet is green.” He gestured to Draco’s dark green shirt and his own jumper. “He thinks it’s greedy to list two when he’s asked.” Scorpius blushed. Albus was absolutely right. Clearly he was paying attention.

“Correct.”

“And,” Harry butted in, “I can’t give you a bonus point, but for Scorpius’ sake, what’s the other.”

“Silver.” Albus said with a nod.

“Scorpius?” Harry asked.

“That’s right too.” Scorpius blushed more. 

“Off to a great start then!” Harry congratulated them. “Ok, next question, a bit harder this time. Scorpius, who is Albus named after?”

“This seems more a question about you, if I’m honest Harry.” Scorpius said, earning a chuckle from the audience.

“Well, Albus told our team you’ve talked about it before, so you should know. Don’t think I don’t know that you’re bluffing for extra time, Scorpius. I know how you Malfoys are.” He elbowed Draco in the side. Draco slapped his arm away and the crowd erupted into laughter. Once they died down, Scorpius answered. 

“He’s named after two of the headmasters you had at School, Harry. Albus Dumbledore, and Severus Snape. A bit geeky, even for me.”

“Correct! And sadly I can’t take the point away for the insult.”

“Now, Albus,” Draco said, “what did Scorpius’ mother, _my wife_,” he said with raised eyebrows, Albus backed-away, pretending to be afraid, earning another chuckle from the audience, “who is here tonight, might I add,” Scorpius noted the cameras swinging round to get her into the shot. She waved from her seat, “do as a profession when she was younger?”

“She was a ballerina,” he said with a smile, “A prima ballerina.”

“Correct!”

“How’s Scorpius’ dancing, Al?” Harry asked. Scorpius blushed, because he knew where this was going.

“Sadly I think he’s probably taken more after his father in that aspect, it’s not the best.” Scorpius clasped a hand to his chest, faking offence. The audience let out a low 'ooooh.' 

"Harsh words there, son. Save the insults for me, best not to be rude to the future in-laws.” Harry chuckled. Scorpius felt a pang in his chest, remembering the lie. “Now boys, just one more question each. Get these two right, and you’ll be tied with Rose and Polly.” The competition was truly on. “To Scorpius, how tall is Albus, exactly?” When Scorpius went to turn around, Harry put his arms on his shoulders, “Nope. No peeking.” Scorpius knew that he knew this, but it took some time.

Hesitantly he said, “Five foot…five?” He said scrunching up his entire body. The audience was silent. And then.

“Correct!” Harry said and the audience clapped. Albus huffed.

“That question seemed rather rude,” he said, standing on his tiptoes.

“Sorry son.” Harry shrugged, chuckling.

“Albus, final question for you.” The lights dimmed, the pressure on. “Where is Scorpius’ family home? Where do I live, Potter?”

“Wiltshire.” He said confidently.

“Going to need a bit more than an entire county, Al.” Said Harry.

“Right. Weyhill, just outside Andover.” Malfoy Manor was a pretty famous estate, they rented it out every now and again for events, so it wasn't weird to Scorpius that his home address was being broadcast across the country. 

“Absolutely correct.” The audience erupted into cheers.

“He’s more than just a pretty face.” Scorpius smiled at his ‘boyfriend’, taking his hand behind the podium. Albus kissed him on the cheek. Scorpius heart fluttered. He was well and truly smitten with Albus Potter. This was turning into a problem.

“And that ends the first round!” Said Harry.

“Our joint leaders are Rose and Polly, and Albus and Scorpius.” Said Draco.

“Otherwise known as Scorbus.” Said Harry.

“Indeed.” The audience cheered. It was safe to say they were the fan favourites. “In second is Asher and Renee.”

“Which means we have to say goodbye to Cassia and Copper.” Harry said, not showing nearly enough remorse to the daughter of the woman who tormented him.

“Thank you for playing you two,” Draco said, waving them off. “Don’t worry, we do have a couples-councillor ready to go in the green room.” The audience giggled, and they cut to an add break.

Scorpius was still holding Albus’ hand. They looked at each other, smiling.A make up artist came over, for which Scorpius was grateful. He felt like he had sweated off all the make up that they had put on his face.

“I think we might have a shot at winning this.” Albus said once she had gone.

“I wouldn’t count Rose out, though,” Scorpius looked over to her and Polly. They were slightly matching, too. Polly in a burgundy dress, her blonde hair curled to a crisp, Rose wearing red corduroy dungarees and a white shirt, her dark hair in two buns either side of her head. Polly whispered something into Rose’s ear and she burst out into laughter. Scorpius had never been able to make her laugh that much. “Once she puts her mind to something she usually gets it.”

“She certainly does. “ The five minutes flew by quickly, before the lights came back up, Astoria gave him and Albus a quick thumbs up. Ginny noticed and joined in too, both of them laughing together. “It looks like I’ve got your mums approval,” Albus whispered in her ear. Scorpius blushed, and caught Draco looking at them sternly. “I’ll get your dads eventually.” It felt like something more than just pretending.

* * *

“Welcome back folks!” Albus dad said, smiling warmly at the camera pointed at him. He was so easy going. Albus felt like he was made of nerves. Scorpius was still holding his hand, and he prayed that he would never let go. “We will move swiftly onto our next round, this is all about how well our couples work together as team.”

“Albus and Scorpius, you two will be going first this time.”

“And Albus, you’re going to need this.” His dad passed him a blindfold. “Put it on,” he did as he was told, and the world went dark. “Because Scorpius will be directing you through this!” Albus heard cheers from the audience, and Scorpius gripped his hand even tighter. Albus had no idea whether to take that as a good or bad sign.

“That’s right,” Draco picked up where his dad had stopped, “for this round our couples will be guiding each other through our obstacle course.”

“Rose and Asher are locked away in a green room boys, so don’t worry, they’re not at an advantage.”

“Scorpius, you may lead Albus over to the start.” Scorpius pulled Albus along a few paces, before placing a hand on his chest to stop him. “You will have to let go of his hand, Scorpius,” Albus was reluctant to, but he didn’t have much of a choice, “it isn’t going to be that easy.”

“You have five minutes to get through, and the quicker you go, the more points you’ll earn and the more money you’ll win for your charity!”

“Lets put five minutes on the clock.” Albus took a breath and prepared to humiliate himself on live television. “And, can we get a countdown from the audience please, five!”

“Four!” he could hear his mum and Lily.

“Three!” Scorpius gave him a small pat on the shoulder.

“Two!” His dad was laughing.

“One!” Scorpius shouted. “Albus run! For like, 10 seconds!” So he did. After a much smaller amount of time Scorpius was yelling, “Stop, stop!” His voice was breathless and he was already a giggling mess. “Right, get on your hands and knees.”

“Steady on,” he heard his dad say.

“Potter, this a family show,” he heard Draco respond.

“Tell your son that!” All the while Albus was crawling through some sort of tunnel.

“You can stand up now!” Scorpius said, “but not too —” but just as Scorpius was going to say fast, he rammed his head into something soft. “Right, just left.”

“Which way?”

“Oh, left sorry!” Albus smiled.

“Right! No, don’t turn right, I just mean we’re at the next bit.” Albus would have rolled his eyes at the use of the word ‘we’re’ there, but they were covered. “It’s like, two soft beams almost touching,” he braced himself for either of their fathers to make some sort of comment. Judging by the laugh from the audience, it seemed like all they had done was look at each other in the way that they did. “You’re going to have to go through the middle of them!”

“What on earth do you mean?”

“Walk forwards a bit more,” he did so, “now reach out.” He realised what Scorpius meant as he felt what was in front of him. He knelt down, pushing his body through whatever contraption he was making his way through, hoping that the landing on the other side would be soft. Mercifully, it was.

“That’s halfway through the course! Still three minutes left boys!” His dad cheered them on. Albus grinned. They were pretty good at this.

“Right, this next one is a beam.” Scorpius said.

“It certainly is,” Draco said, “and Albus, don’t fall. Because if you do, you’ll have to go back to the start.”

“Okay, Albus, step out,” he did so, feeling the width of the beam. He could stand on it pretty easily with both his feet next to each other. “Right that’s good, but it gets thinner, so just, go slowly.”

“That’s two and a half minutes gone!” He had spent thirty seconds just getting up onto the beam, he had to go faster. Feeling confident, he started walking. He got a few steps forward, and then he heard a gasp from the audience, and then he was putting his foot onto nothing, and he fell the small distance to the floor. “Back to the start!” His dad yelled, and suddenly he was being pulled to the start of the course.

“Run Albus!” he sped through the course all over again, knowing what he was doing this time. He only hit his head a handful of times. “Right. Slowly, now, feel it out.” He listened to Scorpius this time, and he got to the end of the beam.

“One minute left!” Draco announced.

“Right Albus climb!”

“Climb what?”

“It’s like a ladder, stairs thing, leading to a slide.” Albus reached out, feeling for the ladder rungs. “You’re at the top! Slide down Albus!” Jumping down onto the inflatable slide, Albus whooped as he came down.

Hands he recognised as Scorpius’ lifted him up into a hug. He pushed the blindfold from his face, his smile growing wider when the first thing he saw was Scorpius’ face.

“Congratulations boys!” He vaguely heard his father say. Him and Scorpius were still grinning at each other. Scorpius was looking at him like it was a miracle he had got them through the course alive. They hadn’t kissed for a while. They hadn’t needed to. In that moment it was all Albus wanted to do. His eyes flickered down to Scorpius lips. Scorpius breath hitched slightly, and Albus took that as a good sign. He raised his eyebrows, and Scorpius nodded. Albus kissed him. They were both still smiling. He heard the audience go “aww.”

“Ah hem,” he heard his father cough. They pulled away, grinning sheepishly. “You made it through the course with 24 seconds still on the clock. So you get the 5 points for completing the course, and a bonus 2 for completing it with time left over.”

“That puts you in the lead with 7 points,” Draco said, “but that is only because you were the first two to go.”

“Now, lets bring out our sportswomen, Renee and Asher!” As the next couple came on, Albus and Scorpius escaped backstage. They had made it all the way to the greenroom before they let go of each others hands. Albus collapsed on the sofa, exhausted.

“That was the most exercise I’ve done in weeks.”

“I think that was the most fun I’ve had in weeks.”

“Speak for yourself, that was stressful.” He turned to the TV in the corner showing what was being broadcasted. It didn’t look like poor Asher was doing much better than him. The adrenaline pumping through Albus’ body was making him adventurous. He wanted to tell Scorpius that things had changed. Or really, that things had changed for him since the moment they had begun. But now really wasn’t the time.

* * *

The way Albus was looking at him made Scorpius certain that something had changed. There was no point trying to deny it to himself anymore.

He had fallen completely and utterly in love with Albus Potter. Not just a crush, not just a rush of emotions from being in the happiest place on earth, and not just because they had spent three weeks glued to each others side. Everything Albus did and said made his heart soar.

It was ridiculous that it took him being on a gameshow, guiding him, blindfolded, through an obstacle course, for him to realise it. But here he was. And he couldn’t bear keeping it a secret anymore. He had always hated keeping them.

“Albus, I —” he began, but they were interrupted by Asher and Renee who barged into the greenroom in fits of laughter.

“Oh god,” Asher said, her ginger ringlets falling from their pony tail, her blindfold still on her forehead.

“We were _awful_!” Renee finished. She still looked put together, her short black pixie cut didn’t have a hair out of place.

“We?” Asher asked, “I think it was your terrible instructions that meant we didn’t even finish the course!”

“I thought you’d have better balance!” Renee defended.

“I’m a footballer not a gymnast!” But Asher was giggling, not actually angry at her fiancé. “It’s Rose and Polly!” Scorpius turned his attention to the screen, still aware that what he almost said was still hanging in the air. Rose was making her way through the course, Polly instructing. She was giving it everything she had. As Albus did, she fell off the beam just as it started to get thinner.

“How many times did you fall, Albus?” Asher asked.

“Just the once.”

“Goddamnit.”

“How many times did you?”

“Three.”

“Ah.” The pair of them burst into giggles. “How’s your mum, by the way?” Asher asked after her teams most famous player.

“She’s doing well.”

“She hasn’t been to the grounds in a while.”

“I’ll tell her to pop down, that you all need some her expertise.” Albus said. Asher rolled her eyes.

“We really do.” Albus, Asher and Renee all laughed together. Scorpius felt slightly left out, but he didn’t exactly keep up with the world of sport.

“She’s done it!” Renee announced, changing the subject. “Six points, how many did you guys get?”

“Seven.” They said at the same time.

They were winning. The show cut to another ad break. In the quick five minutes, Albus got himself a drink of water before heading back onto the set. Scorpius stood at their next mark, waiting for the show to start again. Their parents were all talking about something. His dad looked critical, but his mum and Ginny Potter were laughing and Harry looked pleased with himself so he had obviously made some sort of joke. Probably at his and Albus’ expense.

Albus joined him a minute before they were about to go live. Scorpius desperately wanted to finish their conversation from earlier, but there simply wasn’t time. Their fathers got themselves into position, and the cameras started rolling again. Albus found Scorpius’ hand.

“Welcome back everybody!” Harry said, and the audience cheered. “We are now in the final round.”

“And it’s a Simon Snow special,” Draco said, “With Albus and Scorpius, and Rose and Polly in the final…”

As expected, Rose and Polly were fiercely competitive in the final round. It was a classic whiteboard-round, having to get the exact same answers. It had come down to the final two questions, and they were neck and neck. 

"Right, Rose," Draco began, "your final question is..." 

"Where is the one place in the world Polly has always wanted to go to, but never has?" Harry finished. To Scorpius that seemed an easy enough question, and Polly wrote down her answer straight away. But Rose looked stumped. "Ten seconds to write something down, Rose." Her eyebrows furrowed, and she jotted something down, and for the first time ever, Rose Granger-Weasley didn't look confident. 

"Three, Two, One!" Draco counted down, and they spun their boards around. Rose had hurriedly written NYC, but on Polly's board was written Disney World. 

"But you've been!" Rose exclaimed. Polly rolled her eyebrows. 

"I've been to Disney _Land_, Rosie. Not Disney _World_!" Polly and Scorpius locked eyes, both knowing exactly what Rose was about to say.

"Aren't they the same?" She said. Scorpius giggled and sent a look to eyebrows. They could win this. 

"Sadly not, Rose." Draco said. 

"Now boys," Harry said excitedly. "This is where you can win, if you get it wrong we will go to a tie-break round." A hush fell over the audience. "Scorpius, the question is for you." 

"What is Albus' favourite thing to do when you visit America together?" Scorpius took a breath in. If it was what he thought it was, if it was the same answer Scorpius would have given to this question, Scorpius pretty much would take that as confirmation that just maybe his feelings for Albus weren't unrequited. He wrote his answer down quickly. 

"Three! Two! One!" The entire audience counted down. They spun their boards around. 

_Order room-service and fall asleep. _Scorpius had written. 

_Eat too much room-service and pass out in a food coma_. Was Albus' longer answer. 

The crowd erupted into cheers. 

* * *

Albus was high from their win, even if it was just a tv show. He grabbed Scorpius and pulled him into a kiss as the confetti reigned down on them. It felt pretty damn good. They broke apart, breathless and smiling. Albus could have sworn he saw something in Scorpius’ eyes. He thought back to Disneyland, when he had sensed something but did nothing about it. Today was their last day together, and they were planning on ‘breaking up’ once all the initial hype had died down around them. He desperately didn’t want to do that anymore.

The taxi back to Scorpius’ apartment had been tense. They both kept glancing at each other, smiling, and then looking away. Albus’ heart was pounding. When Scorpius finally shut the door to his apartment, it took all Albus had not to pounce on him.

“So.” Scorpius said, “Albus, I was going to say something earlier, but we got interrupted.” He was leaning on his kitchen counter. Scorpius stepped closer to him. “I don’t want to ruin what we’ve got here, but, things have _changed_, for me.” Albus couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “I think. I think I’ve fallen for you, Albus. And I just hope…” He trailed off. For once, Scorpius Malfoy seemed to run out of words. 

And for once, Albus knew he had the exact right ones. 

“Scorpius?” Albus asked. “Can I kiss you?”

“God, yes.”

So he did. For the first time ever, Albus kissed Scorpius properly. He hadn’t realised he hadn’t been doing it right until now. But here they were, kissing without any cameras or interviewers. And it was incredible. They had both been holding back. Albus slipped his hands into Scorpius’ hair, and the sound the other boy had made. Well, it made the last three weeks worth it. Kissing Scorpius like this made the entire 12 years worth it.

Scorpius liked him back. Properly.

Fireworks went off in Albus' brain.

* * *

Scorpius didn’t really know when things had first started to change. A part of him thought that maybe he had always liked Albus like this, he had just never really thought about it before. There was definitely nothing fake about what was happening right now. Of all the kisses they had shared, this one was by far the best. It was intense and Scorpius broke away for a second to gasp for breath, but then immediately went back, eyes fluttering open for a moment to see Albus looking back at him like he had pulled away for a lifetime. He slipped his hands under Albus’ jumper. He gasped at the contact, and they both smiled. Scorpius led him away from the kitchen.

* * *

The next morning, Albus woke up to a twitter moment from the Daily Prophet. Rita Skeeter had the inside scoop on Albus and Scorpius.

Someone had leaked the story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun, dun, dunn!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! Only a couple chapters left to go now!


	11. Cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpius wakes up to an empty bed.

Scorpius woke up to pouring rain. It took a while for him to remember, because there’s no one in his bed next to him. But the memory comes back slowly, and a smile grows on his face.

_Albus Potter likes me_.

At first that’s all he can think. It consumes him, eats him up. His best friend, the boy he’s known since he was ten. The boy who smiled at him when everywhere else laughed. It makes so much sense.

_I like him back_.

That one is a tad more difficult for Scorpius to wrap his head around. Because of course he does. How could he not? Why did it take him so long?

He pushes those questions from his mind. Instead, images from last night flicker through his brain. Albus’ hair in his hands. Albus’ laugh in the crook of his neck. _Albus_.

He can’t quite believe it.

He gets up, stretches, and hopes Albus is where he was the morning after the last time they shared this bed together. That first night now seemed so long ago, and Scorpius is glad they finally got to where it feels like they are supposed to be.

Scorpius’ marble floor is cold underneath his feet. And Albus isn’t in the kitchen. But there’s a note scribbled on the kitchen counter. It’s definitely Albus’ handwriting, it’s barely legible. But Scorpius can read it.

* * *

Albus had no idea what to write. All he knew was that he had to get out of there. He’s panicking, and Scorpius is still asleep, and he can’t bear to wake him. Scorpius’ kitchen is so bright when the sun rises. Every surface is reflective. Sun rays catch in the corners of his eyes, and that’s what Albus blames the tears on.

He needs to go home. Not back to his apartment. His home. He rarely craves it, and mostly wants the advice he knows his sister will give, and a hug from his mum. His phone vibrates again in his pocket and Albus shudders along with it.

Everything was falling apart. And he knew this wouldn’t help at all, but he needed to get out. The pen scratched along the notepad.

_I’m sorry, I had to go. _

And then the first words again, because god that sounds awful.

_I’m sorry, Scorpius_.

His pen hovers and he considers writing three more.

But he doesn’t.

He’s never been good with words. Scorpius would understand that. The ones he wants to write deserve to be said and not written.

* * *

Scorpius didn’t understand. Did Albus regret what happened between them? Did Scorpius hurt him? Had something happened to his family? Had something happened to him? A million other thoughts ran through Scorpius’ mind. All he could do was stare at the note, praying that he would blink and the words would change.

* * *

Albus didn’t have a hood. Or an umbrella. He couldn’t be bothered to go back to his apartment to grab any of his things, he just barrelled straight to his house.

He knocked on the door, shivering under the porch light. It was early, his parents might not even be up.

His not-so-little sister opened the door.

“What the hell happened to you?”

“Hi, Lils.”

* * *

Scorpius ran back into his room, grabbing his phone, hoping that maybe Albus had messaged him something with a bit more clarity.

Nothing from Albus, but he did have a couple missed calls from his mother. He rang her straight away.

* * *

Astoria Malfoy had always been a morning person. It frustrated her husband immensely, and it was her favourite thing to drag him out on early-morning walks when there was nothing more he wanted to do than lounge around in bed.

But it was raining this morning, so she let her husband sleep and promised herself a crisp morning walk the next time the sun shone as she woke up. Instead she made herself a cup of tea (plenty of milk and three sugars, a sight at which Draco always recoiled; when they had first met Draco had his tea and coffee black, but slowly and surely Astoria had convinced him of the joys of milk and sugar and cream). She crept into the living room, avoiding the particularly creaky floorboards, and sunk into the comfy sofas in the living room. She was glad Draco had let her redecorate almost the entire house, the sofas that had lived here before Astoria did had been awfully uncomfortable.

She dug the remote control from out underneath all the blankets, wrapping herself in one as she did so, careful not to spill tea all over herself, and flicked on the television.

It opened onto the news, and her attention immediately faded away, her focus drifting to the window where she watched it rain over the vast gardens.

A few minutes later, though, she heard her sons name.

“…Scorpius Malfoy and Albus Potter - Fake. That’s the headline of the Daily Prophet today.” One of the newscasters was saying. Astoria turned the volume up.

“Yes,” the other presenter continued, “this is the Entertainment bombshell of the month it seems. The Daily Prophet reporting today on the news that, according to Malfoy himself, the relationship we’ve been watching unfold for the past month has all been to generate extra money for the two actors, who’s careers are unstable now the _Simon Snow _movies are coming to an end.”

“Draco!” Astoria called out, hoping her voice would carry through the big house. When they moved onto another paper, she got up and ran to her husband’s bedroom, calling her son on her phone as she did so.

* * *

Astoria picked up the phone after the first ring.

“What’s happened?”Scorpius asked, terrified that something had happened to her. “Are you alright, is everything okay?”

“I’m fine, Scorpius. What about you, though?” Astoria asked. Scorpius was confused, why would anything be wrong with him? Maybe Albus had spoken to her? But that didn’t make any sense.

“What do you mean?” Scorpius asked.

“Haven’t you seen the news?”

* * *

Albus changed into clean, dry, clothes. Luckily he hadn’t grown since he was 15 years old, so all his old clothes at home still fit him. He clambered back downstairs and into the kitchen where Lily brewed him a cup of coffee. He bounced his leg as he leant up against the kitchen counter, his phone on the side taunting him.

He flipped it over, so he would be less tempted to touch the screen.

“Do you really think Scorpius would do something like this on purpose?” Lily asked, pulling her ginger hair up into a bun on top of her head. She was taller than Albus when she did that.

“No, of course not, but…” his voice drifted away, he couldn’t process what was happening.

“But, it’s _Scorpius_,” she said. Albus nodded his head.

“I know. It doesn’t make sense. He must have let something slip by accident. He told me Cassia had been practically grilling him before the show yesterday, he must have said something then.”

Lily sighed, “I just don’t think Scorpius would let something slip like that, Albus. He’s not an idiot. The Skeeters are tricky people, Al. Someone must have tipped them off first, and then they twisted Scorpius’ words. He wouldn’t do something like this.”

“I know. It doesn’t make any sense.” It really didn’t. Albus couldn’t think of anyone who would dare spill the secret. Delphi would lose her job if she let something like that loose. And sure, Rose and Albus weren’t always the best of friends anymore but they were still family.

“Maybe Rose told Polly, and she let it spill?” Lily suggested.“I never liked Chapman, I’ve got to say.” Lily had spent plenty of time on the _Simon Snow_ sets when she wasn’t at school. She had wriggled her way into being a PA for every director since she was 16. Now at 20, and in her second year at university, she had more experience than anybody.

“Maybe?” Albus said, shrugging. “But I don’t think Rose would say anything until we said she could.” Lily sighed, but nodded.

They both looked up as the floorboards creaked above them, and they heard their mother’s laugh.

* * *

“We’ll come to you.” Astoria said firmly on the phone. Scorpius immediately protested.

“You don’t have to do that, mum, please, the journey —”

“The journey is good for me, Scorpius. It’s good for me to get out of the house, to come see London and you.”

“But you’ve only just got back from last night, that’s two long journeys in two days.”

“We’re coming, Crumble.” Astoria said firmly, using Scorpius’ nickname from when he was younger. It had come from when one of his many foreign relatives, he couldn’t now remember which one, had incorrectly pronounced his name Scor-pie-us, and his mother found it delightfully funny. She cycled through calling him Pie, and then Strudel, and Bakewell, and Croissant, and somewhere along the way Crumble had stuck. Scorpius smiled, and he desperately missed her mother now everything seemed to be falling apart.

“Okay. I’ll see you soon.”

“See you in a flash.” Astoria said, and the phone went quiet.

Left alone in the silence of his apartment, Scorpius finally let everything overwhelm him. Someone had spilled their lie. Scorpius racked his brain trying to think of everything he had told Cassia Skeeter.

“So is it difficult,” she had asked him before she had noticed her phone lying in between them, “going from friends to a couple?”

Scorpius had been nervous about their tv appearance, and had given a vague answer, mind not really paying attention. “No, I wouldn’t say so. Not much has changed between us. Nothing really.”

He clicked onto the Daily Prophet’s website, reading the article. There were his words, spewed back at him and twisted slightly.

* * *

Ginny Potter hadn’t expected to see her son standing in her kitchen, wearing clothes he hadn’t worn in years, and looking like the world had just collapsed on top of him at 8 in the morning. But as soon as she did, she gathered him up into a hug.

As their son explained what had happened, the lie he and Scorpius had been telling, the disaster that was unfolding now, she felt her husband bristle beside her.

The Potters were no strangers to the twisted words of the Daily Prophet, or outright lies written by someone with the surname Skeeter. Rita Skeeter had made a lot of money a lifetime ago writing about Harry when he was only fourteen years old and unable to handle the celebrity world with ease.

They had both done their best to protect their kids from cruel reporters, Ginny trained James on exactly what to say in post-game interviews and encouraging him the best she could on how to stay out of the tabloids. Sure James had tormented his siblings growing up, but he had rounded out into a pretty charming young man, even if he couldn't keep a girlfriend to save his life. He was an expert at keeping his relationships out of the papers.

Harry had been relieved when Lily had said she wanted to go into the more technical side of the industry, much more interested in being behind the cameras than in front of it. And she seemed to be having a pretty successful university career too, only in her second year and already Captain of the Drama school's football team. 

But Albus…well he took the most after both his parents. He loved acting, and shone with confidence in front of camera, but he also always wanted the world to see things exactly the same way he did. That rarely happened. He seemed to invite trouble, and to enjoy it. That wasn't the case today though. Ginny could tell from the way his shoulders had sunk, and from the bags under his eyes, and from where his hair was still wet from how he had come all the way here without a coat. Albus had messed up, and he knew it.

It broke her heart to see his son like this.

“When I suggested it,” Albus said, finishing his story, “I thought Scorpius would disagree. He’s usually the sensible one out of us.” This was undoubtedly true. Scorpius was an excellent influence for Albus, and Ginny had sensed it long before he let them know that there was something more between the two of them. “But he agreed, and the whole thing got out of hand and now…”

Ginny could tell that something was lingering on his mind. That there was something getting stuck in his brain that he couldn’t work out.

“What is it, Albus?” She asked him, wrapping one arm around his shoulder, pulling him into her.

Her son’s voice was barely above a whisper. “I thought he liked me.”

* * *

Albus felt like he was fourteen again, standing in his kitchen crying after his first and only real fight with Scorpius, hugging his mother as he finally told them the whole truth.

* * *

Scorpius opened his door to his parents a couple hours later. He had showered and got dressed in the mean time, taking time to calm himself down and put on comfy clothes. But he didn’t feel properly relaxed until his mother was making him a cup of tea.

“Have you spoken to Albus?” She asked when they all settled on the sofa. His father looked at him sympathetically from next to her.

Scorpius shook his head. “He just left this note,” and he got it out from where he had folded it and put it in his pocket. He had been folding it and unfolding it all day. He was determined that he could some how read between the two lines he had written. 

“You mean he was here? Last night?” Draco asked, Astoria slapped his hand.

“So it wasn’t fake?” Astoria asked instead. “Your relationship?”

Scorpius cringed, embarrassed, but knew to tell the truth. “It was at first, but I fell for him along the way." Scorpius smiled sadly. "Last night was the first night anything was…” he searched for the right word, “real.”

Astoria smiled, “you need to call him, Crumble.”

“No, no, he needs space. I know Albus.” Although Scorpius was beginning to doubt that again. “He won’t want to hear from me.”

Astoria looked over to Draco. “Trust me, son,” he said, “he will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I've been gone for a while, with Christmas and New Years and the fact that I have absolutely zero motivation to do anything right now I've been finding it difficult to write. I know this chapter is short, but I do know where the story is going, I promise! 
> 
> I would usually say more coming soon, but I can't say that this time around. I will finish this fic, eventually, but updates might be a little slow and obviously my statement that it will all be done before the new year did not pan out. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and commenting, I really wouldn't be anywhere without you guys!


	12. Miracle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpius takes his father's advice and gives Albus a call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short but sweet update for you.

All Albus wanted to do was to call Scorpius. But he could barely look at his phone. He certainly did not have the ability to pick it up and dial his number.

So it was a miracle when, whilst, watching mindless daytime television in the living room with his parents, it started buzzing in his pocket. 

All their heads spun round to face him.

‘It’s Scorpius.” He said.

“Answer it!”

“Of course it is!”

“Go on, Al.” Said his mother, Lily, and his father all at once.

Albus stood up and walked out of the room.

* * *

Scorpius locked himself in the bathroom. He couldn’t bare making the call in front of his parents.

He took a deep breath as he opened his contacts.

He didn’t need to scroll at all. Albus was right there at the top.

* * *

“Hi.”

“Hello.”

“I’m so sorry!” Two voices said at once.

“I shouldn’t have left.”

“I shouldn’t have been so stupid.”

“You’re not stupid. You were tricked. The Skeeters, they’re not the nicest of people.”

“I should have been more careful.”

“Scorpius….”

“Albus.”

“I really shouldn’t have left.”

“I understand why you did. You didn’t want to see me.”

“I do now.”

“You do?”

“Of course I do, Scorpius.”

“Albus, I —”

“I have another call coming through. Delphi.”

“You should answer that.”

“I should.”

…

“But I interrupted you.”

“It’s nothing. Speak to Delphi.”

“We’ll talk soon. I — I promise.”

* * *

Albus sat down on his old bed as he answered the phone to Delphi. “This is bad,” he said, in place of a hello.

“It’s not ideal.” Delphi responded. Albus was confused. Delphi was prone to overreaction, but she seemed oddly calm. But maybe her panic was just getting lost down the phone.

“What do we do now?” Albus asked, hoping for guidance. He didn’t get the best advice back.

“Just stay quiet for a while and hope everything dies down before the premiere. You’ve got nothing major scheduled, in fact, if it was going to break, now is the best time for it too.”

“I suppose…” That thought didn’t exactly comfort Albus, it felt more like somebody had orchestrated everything. He aired this concern too Delphi. The phone went oddly quiet.

“Well.” She finally said, coughing. “Unless you’re blaming your cousin, nobody else knew.”

“No. Nobody.”

Another awkward silence.

“Well, I’ve got to go. I’ll speak to you later.”And with that Delphi hung up the phone.

* * *

It had barely been two minutes until Albus rang Scorpius back.

“It’s Delphi.” He said. Scorpius was confused, but smiled at the sound of his voice.

“What?”

“Delphi leaked the story.”

“She told you that?”

“No. But I can just tell.” Albus and Delphi had always been really close. Before he came out, Scorpius would have said Albus had a little bit of a crush on her. So hearing this come from him was shocking.

“Have you spoken to Rose?” He asked, knowing of Granger-Weasley’s distrust of their agent.

“Not yet, no. But I’m going to.”

“You should. She’ll be worried about you. I’m worried about you. Where did you go anyway, are you alright?” Scorpius wanted to bombard Albus with hundreds of questions, but he thought it best to try and restrain himself for now.

“I’m fine, Scorpius. I..I came home.” Scorpius smiled at the fact that they both had the same instinct.

“My home came to me. My parents journeyed up to see me when they heard.”

“That’s good. I’m glad you’re not alone.” Albus’ voice softened. “I miss you, though, Scorp.”

“It’s been less than 12 hours since we last saw each other.” Scorpius responded, resorting at first to sarcasm. He wanted to be brave, though, so he added. “But, I miss you too.”

“Nothing’s changed for me Scorp.” Scorpius sighed into the phone. He wished they were having this conversation in person.

“Everything’s changed for me, Albus. I’ve never wanted to kiss you more than I do right now.” Scorpius went a light shade of pink as he muttered those words.

* * *

Albus was already moving, his phone clutched between his cheek and shoulder, as he chucked on his shoes and hurried back downstairs.

“I’m coming.” He said into the phone.

“What?” A confused Scorpius said on the other side of it.

“Don’t go anywhere, I’m coming back to your flat.” He stopped moving for a moment as he reached his front door. “If you’ll have me, that is?”

“Of course I will, you dolt!” Albus smiled at Scorpius voice. It sounded happy again.

“We’ll sort this out together.” Albus said. “I don’t want to be apart from you anymore Scorpius. You’re supposed to be at my side.” It was the most honest Albus had ever been, and it stunned Scorpius into silence. “See you in a sec.” He said, and Scorpius replied and he hung up the phone and swung open his front door.

He messaged his parents a quick explanation as to why he had just ran round the house like a madman picking up his stuff and dashed out the door. He practically ran to the train station and just made it onto a train as his doors closed.

* * *

“You have to leave.” Scorpius said to his parents.

“Excuse me?” Draco asked. But Astoria stood up straight away, holding a hand out to her husband.

“Just, for a little while. To like a cafe, or something.” Scorpius looked pleadingly at his mother, hoping she had caught on and that he wouldn’t have to explain to his father that Albus was coming round and he would probably want them to be alone.

Hell, screw what Albus wanted. Scorpius wanted them to be alone.

“C’mon, Draco.” Astoria said. He stood up with reluctance, and Astoria stood on her tip-toes to whisper into her husbands ear. He turned a shade of pink that Scorpius could feel his own face growing.

“Leave!” Scorpius said, ushering them away. Astoria giggled, but caressed Scorpius on the cheek.

“Just give us a call, so we can see you before we go back home.” She said, and then she dragged Draco out the door.

Scorpius knew roughly how long it would take Albus to get from his house to Scorpius’ apartment. When enough time had passed he went from pacing at his window to pacing in the lobby.

Scorpius hated the rain.

But he saw Albus’ blue hoodie.

And he saw that it was drenched.

And he saw the brown curls poking out from underneath it.

And he ran out anyway.

* * *

Albus felt the force of Scorpius’ hug before he saw him.

Albus didn’t like that he was short, but he loved that Scorpius was taller than him. It meant that he could fit his head perfectly into the crook of Scorpius’ neck.

* * *

Scorpius wanted to hug Albus like this forever. His breath tickling his neck and he rested his cheek on top of his head, them both clutching at each other so tight they were at risk of losing circulation.

But he wanted to do something else even more. So he pulled away from him. Albus smiled up at him as their eyes met. Scorpius kept the eye contact for a second before pulling Albus back, only this time he kissed him.

Scorpius forgot all about the rain then.

* * *

Albus could see what this moment would look like if it was a film. The sunlight bursting through the rain as the camera circled around them.

A perfect movie kiss.

Albus’ heart felt full.

They stayed like that for god-knows how long, until Albus felt Scorpius shiver and he pulled him inside.

Eventually they made it back up to Scorpius’ apartment.

It was much warmer in there.

* * *

Scorpius lent Albus some dry clothes to wear back to his apartment.

Once he was dressed Albus walked over to the curtains, pulling them back to reveal sunshine.

“What a lovely day.” Scorpius said, walking over to where Albus was standing and hugging him from behind.

“It really is,” Albus said, looking out at the view for a moment before spinning around to face Scorpius. He kissed him again, as if he hadn’t gotten enough. Scorpius was grateful, because he certainly hadn’t. When they broke apart, Scorpius rested their foreheads together.

“Albus I—”

“I love you.”

“You beat me to it!”

“It wasn’t a competition, Scorpius.” Albus said, smiling all the while. “But, I’ve loved you for a long time.”

Scorpius rolled his eyes. But then, more seriously, he said, “I’m sorry.” Albus laced their fingers together.

“You don’t have to apologise.”

“I love you, then.” Scorpius finally said. “I love you now. And I’ll love you tomorrow. And the day after that. And all the days after that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! 
> 
> This fic is coming to an end now, but I'm so grateful to everyone who's come along for the ride. 
> 
> One more chapter and an epilogue coming soon!


	13. Constellations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Premiere of Simon Snow and the Eighth Dance is here!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last proper chapter, so I hope it's good!  
(it features an extremely self-indulgent paragraph that I've been planning since I started this fic, and gosh it was emotional for me to write)

Scorpius had muted his twitter. His instagram. Facebook. Apparently he even had a YouTube channel that people were posting harsh things too.

But he muted all of them. He spent most of his time studying Albus now, rather than his phone. 

They had both posted apologies for what they had done, and according to Rose the backlash was dying down. Only a week had passed and there had been plenty more scandals in the mean time. Some people would hold on, but most just forgot and then forgave when they were reminded six months later.

* * *

Albus’ conversation with Delphi didn’t go well. But it couldn’t have gone well, no matter what she said to him it was going to have the same outcome. She tried to deny it at first. She hit Albus in all the ways she knew she could. Her and Albus had been friends, truly. She had seen things in him when even his own father had abandoned him. Which is why it hurt so much when she finally cracked and admitted the betrayal.

He fired her immediately, but he cried when he hung up the phone.

Scorpius was there instantly. Picking up the pieces. Kissing him better. 

They lounged about in Scorpius’ flat, both of them blessed with free time. Albus spent most of it with his hands getting to know the body his eyes already knew so well. The one bit of hair at the side of Scorpius’ head that never lay flat. The dimples of his collarbones and the gap between his shoulder blades. The nearly-not-there abs on his chest.

He mapped out the constellations of Scorpius Malfoy knowing that it meant he was home.

* * *

Teddy wasn’t pleased with him.

“You Malfoys! You can never be trusted!” He had yelled as he barged into Scorpius’ flat one afternoon, Victoire trailing behind and giggling. “I cannot believe this, Scorpius, truly. I’m going to need a while to get over it.” Scorpius looked at Albus who was leaning against the fridge on the other side of the kitchen. He nodded his head, calling him over.

Albus caught on immediately. He walked over to Scorpius, stood on his tiptoes and wrapped his arms around his waist, so his chin was resting perfectly on Scorpius’ shoulder.

Teddy looked up.

“I cannot believe you actually went and fell in love.” He sighed. “Jesus you’re so cute.” He got out his phone and snapped a picture of the two of them.

Teddy was back to normal in no time.

September ended. Halloween came and went. They went as a budget Romeo and Juliet, Albus with a cheap sword and knights helmet, Scorpius wearing a white shirt and angel wings. He sprinkled glitter on his cheekbones and he caught the light every time he entered a room. Albus had claimed it was unfair, and distracting, and meant that he couldn't enjoy Teddy's party properly because he was always looking at him.

"You'd be looking at me anyway." Scorpius had retorted. Albus paused.

"That is undeniably true." He had said. Scorpius pulled him away from Teddy's living room to find a darker corner, blushing just from the way Albus was looking at him.

Soon enough it was the end of November, and Scorpius was walking around wrapped in scarves and hats and gloves and coats and he hated every second of it.

Except for the seconds where he came home to find Albus wearing the same jumper Scorpius had worn the day before, with he sleeves pooling at his wrists and sometimes the bottom covering just boxers.

Those seconds were alright.

In the middle of the all this cold he had meetings and then rehearsals with Neve and the rest of the cast for Macbeth. Neve Finnegan-Thomas had been amazing.

“People mess up, you're young. It would be a miracle if someone like you managed to walk through this life unscathed. And anyway, we’re doing the Scottish Play!” The superstition had well and truly kicked in amongst them all now the Theatre was theirs. “You can use all that guilt and regret to benefit your acting! Just, don’t do anything worse, okay Malfoy?” Scorpius had nodded, and thanked her immensely. And then she had given him the biggest hug and introduced him to his Lady Macbeth.

* * *

Albus never got nervous for the Premieres. They were always the best bit. He didn’t much enjoy watching himself on that big screen, but for the most part he enjoyed seeing all the cast back together again. And the after parties were always a good laugh.

But he was nervous for this one. It was the first one he was facing without Delphi lingering somewhere behind him. It was the first one he was facing since Delphi had done what she did.

It was also his first Premiere where he wasn’t going alone.

Albus got dressed much quicker than Scorpius. He had come over to his flat to do his hair, “just for your massive bathroom and better products.” He had said when he buzzed up. Scorpius had let him in, frazzled, “I started getting ready two hours ago and I feel like I’m still going to be late.” He had said swinging open the door. Scorpius had already turned around to go back to his room, but Albus caught him by the wrist, spinning him back around to face him.

“Hello.” Albus said. Scorpius blushed.

“Hi.” He squeaked.

Albus was never going to get used to the joy that was kissing Scorpius Malfoy.

He smiled at the hour-old memory as he dusted his suit off in the living room. He was wearing a deep burgundy blazer, and ode to Simon’s best colour. He didn’t particularly want to say goodbye to him, but it also felt right. He was facing his own adventure now, not a made up one.

Scorpius walked out, and Albus watched him through the reflection. If he had been holding something, he would have dropped it.

He was wearing a deep green suit with a black bow-tie. It fit him perfectly. His hair was tousled in imperfect, crisp, white curls. He had let grow for the last few months, and Albus had enjoyed raking his hands through the strands that grew almost down to his neck. But he must have had it cut this morning. Every strand seemed to sit in the precise position to make his face look exquisite. He looked like he had been carved out of marble.

And then Scorpius noticed Albus staring at him and fell about into blushes and awkwardness. And he only looked better for it. He walked over and stood next to Albus. Their deep suits matched, red and green. Christmas.

It was only a couple weeks away now.

“Don’t touch my hair!” Scorpius squealed as Albus pulled him down into a kiss. It was a terrible temptation, but Albus slotted his hands underneath Scorpius’ blazer instead, resting on his back. Even through the shirt, Scorpius shivered.

They pulled apart quickly, both of them knowing that if they didn’t they’d never make it to the premiere. Scorpius’ phone buzzed in his pocket telling him that their car had arrived.

“One last time?” Scorpius said to him, holding out his hand. As Albus took it he realised he had never actually been to a premiere alone. He always had Scorpius there with him.

* * *

Scorpius was half expecting nobody to turn up. But as they neared Trafalgar Square Scorpius began to be able to see the fans. The car dropped them off at the bottom of the red carpet, and the door opened to screams.

People old and young came to see them. People who had only just discovered Simon Snow, and those who had been there from the very first book. As always, it brought tears to his eyes that something he did brought joy to this many people. Both him and Albus did their best to say hello to as many people as they could.

Near the front of the group was an extremely tall man and his extremely short girlfriend. He had incredibly tall hair, too, and the girl wore glasses and her dark brown hair was pulled into a practical ponytail. She held tightly onto a battered copy of the last Simon Snow book as the man took photos of her on his phone.

“Hi!” Scorpius shouted slightly to them both. The girl looked as if she might run away, but there were too many people squashing her to the barrier to let that happen. It appeared impossible for her to answer, so the boyfriend did it for her.

“Hi there!” He said, he was American and had an infectious smile. “This is Cath, I’m Levi, could you possibly sign our book for us?”

“Of course!” Scorpius was shocked at the formality, usually books or posters (or body parts) were just thrust into his face at events like this. He took the book and black sharpie from Cath’s hand. When she didn’t have that to clutch to anymore she fiddled with a ring nervously. _Not girlfriend_, Scorpius noted to himself. Scorpius looked up as he finished signing and noticed that his was the only signature on the page, He craned his to spot Albus on the other side of the red carpet. 

He gave the book back to Cath as he hurried to Albus. “Ohmygod,” he heard what must have been Cath’s voice as he stepped forwards. He took Albus by the hand and dragged him back. Without words, Cath gave the book and pen to Albus.

As he was signing, Levi spoke up again. “We fell in love because of you two.” He said, Scorpius was taken aback, and this Levi fellow seemed to spot that on his face. Cath blushed scarlet. “Well, not because of you two, but Simon and Baz.” Levi looked to Cath. “She read this entire book to me.”

“That’s wonderful!” Scorpius said.

“I hope you enjoy the film!” Albus added. Scorpius squeezed Cath’s hand as Albus gave the book back. Scorpius wished he had better words to say to her, but he was overwhelmed and there were so many more people to see. They moved on through the crowds of people together.

Scorpius stood back and watched Rose and Polly together, getting their photos taken. Rose’s hair was big and gorgeous, Polly’s deadly straight and down her backless black dress. She looked almost more vampiric than Baz ever had. Rose was just as stunning in her yellow gown that popped against her skin.

Victoire and Teddy had gone next, Teddy’s violet bow-tie and white suit matching his hair and Victoire’s dress, which looked heavenly. A dark purple fading into white as it crashed to the floor. Their rings glittered in the flashes and they never once turned to face the photographers, instead just looking at each other and giggling.

And then it was his turn. Their turn.

It was a niceness that Scorpius could barely describe, clutching onto Albus’ hand as they stood in front of the photographers. Scorpius had never particularly liked getting his photo taken, no matter how many people insisted that he was naturally photogenic. But it was certainly a lot easier doing it with someone at your side. When he looked at Albus, he didn’t have to force a smile. He looked at Albus and the world faded away, camera flashes into falling stars. 

They should have done this at every premiere.

But Scorpius tried not to linger on that. Because Albus was holding his hand now, and Scorpius had no plans to let go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> awh
> 
> thank you for reading!


	14. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Christmas Eve at The Burrow!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little epilogue for you all.

Scorpius had visited a lot of interesting places during his life, but The Burrow definitely claimed the top spot.

The house didn’t seem that big from the outside, but it managed to fit more people inside than Malfoy Manor could ever hope to host.

A fire roared in the centre of the living room, and Scorpius warmed his hands by it, laughing with his mother as they watched his father have an intriguing conversation with Albus’ grandfather about just exactly what they all did for a living.

"So you don't actually hate Harry? It's all just for show?" Arthur Weasley asked. Draco sighed. It was going to be a long conversation. 

Ginny called Astoria into the kitchen, and Scorpius was left alone on the sofa. Except he wasn’t alone, because there were approximately a million different people in the room, each with some sort of Potter, Granger, or Weasley surname.

James fell into the spot his mother had left on the sofa, face red from the beer he was clutching.

“So you’re the reason Albus is smiling so much,” James said to him, voice slightly slurred, not really asking a question. Scorpius blushed.

“I guess I am.”

“Don’t break his heart, okay." James said, voice suddenly serious. "Or you’ll have me to deal with.”

“And me.” A mane of brightly ginger hair appeared in front of him. Lily Potter.

Scorpius nodded. “Got it.”

And then all the seriousness fell away, James and Lily piling on top of him in a hug.

Albus had eventually noticed that his two siblings were in the process of crushing his boyfriend, and had rescued him quickly. He pulled Scorpius up, up, up and up the stairs to the roof of the Burrow.

“They’re my family, so I love them,” Albus had said once they reached the cool air, “but Jeez they’re a lot sometimes. Sorry for your exhausting Christmas Eve.”

“Don’t apologise!” Scorpius said, meaning it whole heartedly. He took his hand, shrugging his bag open from when he had grabbed it as Albus had pulled him out of the living room. “I’m going to give you your present now.”

He presented Albus the gift, wrapped in sparkly silver paper. Despite their long friendship, they had never bought each other presents before. Scorpius hoped he had got it right.

Albus unwrapped it delicately, as if he was going to keep the paper.

It was a clean, black, sketchbook.

“Open it.” Scorpius encouraged.

A handful of photos of the two of them fell into Albus’ hands.

One from the premiere, of them both looking at each other as if they were the whole world.

Albus in New York, looking out over Central Park from the top of the Empire State Building.

A selfie from years ago of them in their costumes pulling ridiculous faces.

Albus in the Baz wig and Scorpius holding the sword.

The first time they met, Scorpius giving Albus some sweets.

“It’s perfect.” Albus said.

The Granger-Weasley-Potters spilled out onto the farm land beneath them.

“Look up,” Albus said.

They kissed under falling stars and fireworks.

Scorpius couldn’t wait to keep waking up into this world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it! The end! 
> 
> Thank you all so much for reading! I've had such wonderful comments and I really, truly, have adored writing this story. It's been a blast, and I'm sad to let go, but just you wait for what I've got in store.

**Author's Note:**

> I know this is only a prologue, but I needed to get something out into the world to get me fully invested in this story. More to come soon I promise! 
> 
> Comments and Kudos keep me going!


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